RF Alvarez
rf. alvarez
bio
rf. alvarez is interested in the act of artifact creation. drawing from different archeological references, from creek pottery to pre-columbian sculpture, his work aims at a blended visual style that is distinctly human. he often works in materials such as raw canvas, handmade papers, and natural pigments to further this narrative. this textural materiality, blended with his abstracted and flattened style, result in an eden-like world that draws juxtapositions to our own.
1st dibs, bon appétit magazine, greek pottery, king restaurant, la cienenga design quarter, tribeza magazine
RF. Alvarez is an artist based in Austin, Texas. His figurative paintings are characterized by nocturnal color pallets and evocative scenes that blend personal memory with romantic allegory. Using a process of dry-brushing paint onto raw linen – and borrowing stylistic techniques from Old Masters – Alvarez creates luminous images of queer joy, revelry and contemplation; countering a historical narrative of queer alienation and erasure in the American West. With family roots in both Texas and Mexico, Alvarez uses visions of friendship, indulgence and tenderness to juxtapose with Southern machismo – illuminating the vulnerability that can hide beneath the steely façade of masculinity and the societies it creates.
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
January 2025 The Minotaur Bar – Austin
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 The Look Back – Taymour Grahne Projects, London
2023 Eros – Alanna Miller, New York City
2022 The Invitation – Taymour Grahne Projects, London
Zephyros – Preacher Gallery, Austin
2021 Tender Is the Heart – Self-produced, Austin
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Contemporary Domesticity II –Taymour Grahne Projects, London
2023 Wish – Almine Rech, Paris
Queer Intimacy – Taymour Grahne Projects, London
Art in Embassies – U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden
2021 Plurality of Isolations – Ruiz-Healy Gallery, San Antonio
PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
Texas Monthly
“RF Alvarez Paints Texas in A New Light” by Paul L. UnderwoodT Magazine, The New York Times
“Out West, The Gay Cowboy Roams Free” by Evan MoffittThe T List, The New York Times
“RF. Alvarez’s Paintings of Queer Intimacy in The American West” by Juan A. RamirezThe Brooklyn Rail
“RF. Alvarez: Eros” by Annabel KeenanCultured Magazine
“RF. Alvarez Paints Queer Domesticity With a Cowboy Twist” by Osman Can YerebakanNew American Painting Issue 162, November 2022
Curated by Tyler Blackwell