RF. ALVAREZ: EROS
Open May 12 - June 24, 2023
On view at 230 Mulberry St New York, NY 10012
Weds-Sat: 10:30am-6:30pm
Sun-Tues: By Appointment
For sales inquiries, contact Alanna Miller at ajm@alannamiller.com
Alanna Miller is pleased to announce Eros, a solo exhibition of works by RF. Alvarez, opening Friday, May 12, 2023 from 6-8 pm.
For his first solo show with Alanna Miller, Texas-based artist RF. Alvarez is developing a body of work that centers on the queer home as a sacred space, featuring personal compositions that communicate what the artist sees as pillars of the queer lived experience: belonging, indulgence, and impermanence.
These mostly figurative works depict instances that stem from Eros: crowds of friends around candlelit dinner tables, intimate moments between lovers, Texan landscapes and iconographies, and still life and interior works that serve as artifacts of a partnership. What results is an attempt to immortalize the fleeting and temporary moments of queer home-finding, moments made all the more beautiful in their transience.
For this body of work, Alvarez has developed a looser brush technique on raw, stretched linen, resulting in a softness that emphasizes light, shadow, and tone to create a rich and emotional atmosphere. These compositions' shadowy softness draws from historical references, like Dutch “Vanitas” and Renaissance chiaroscuro, to emphasize the artist’s melancholic appreciation for the life he has built with his partner. We see long summer nights, deep drinks of wine, the cool air coming through the window after intercourse, and the weight of a gendered heritage.
About the Artist
San Antonio born artist RF. Alvarez lives and works in Austin, Texas. His large-scale, richly colored figurative paintings respond to his experience as a queer man of both Mexican heritage and Texan cowboy lineage. He presents visions of queer resilience, using his sense of light, shadow, and color to produce intimate portraits of impermanence, indulgence, and belonging.
RF. Alvarez received his BA from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. He has participated in a considerable number of group and solo shows at galleries like Ruiz-Healy Gallery, Taymour Grahne Projects, Preacher Gallery, and Uprise Art. His next solo show will take place at Alanna Miller Gallery in May of 2023.
About Alanna Miller
With over ten years of experience as an art dealer working with private collectors and corporate hospitalities, Alanna Miller is opening a new gallery space at 230 Mulberry Street in New York City, bringing her art advisory expertise to the storefront. The gallery will function as a dynamic, thoughtful space dedicated to emerging art.
Alanna Miller received her MA in Modern and Contemporary Art and the Market from Christie's Education in New York. She was sales assistant to blue chip art advisor Kim Heirston and Sales Director of Artemisa Gallery in New York City, specializing in emerging and contemporary Latin American art. Following her time with Artemisa, she spent several years in the specialized business of fine art licensing with Bridgeman Images. Alanna Miller brings a uniquely and carefully honed perspective into the gallery.