Francis Ruyter was born in Washington D.C., USA. in 1968 and studied at Maryland Art Center from 1982 - 86; the School of Visual Arts, New York, from 1986 - 1990 and Hunter College Fine Arts Program, New York from 1991 -92. For a number of years Ruyter has been occupied with the Library of Congress's FSA archive of Depression-era photographs. Using the image archive as source for his work Ruyter transforms iconic stark black and white photographic images into vividly coloured paintings or relief prints. Recent solo exhibitions include Galeria Senda, Barcelona (2018); Lab 36, Barcelona (2015); school, Vienna (2015); Eleven Rivington, New York (2015); Connersmith Gallery, Washington D.C. (2012); Alan Cristea Gallery, London (2012); Leeahn Gallery, Seoul (2011) and Daegu, South Korea. Recent group exhibitions include Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2017); Mak/artmonte-carlo salon d'art, Monaco (2016); Mattatuck Museum, Connecticut (2016); Kunstforum Montafon, Schruns (2013) and St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery, Lymington (2013). Ruyter has work in many private and public collections worldwide including Museum of Modern Art, New York; Denver Art Museum; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; La Colección Jumex Mexico City; Museum der Moderne, Salzburg; Valencia Arte Contemporáneo, Valencia and Elgiz Museum, Istanbul. Francis Ruyter lives and works in Vienna, Austria.