RF. Alvarez
born 1988 in San Antonio, TeXas
Lives and works in Austin, Texas
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
September 5 Armory Art Fair New York Solo Booth with Martha’s Contemporary
September 13 Solo exhibition with Megan Mulrooney, Los Angeles
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025 The Minotaur Bar – Martha’s Contemporary, Austin
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 & FAIR Exhibitions
2025 NADA Art Fair New York – Megan Mulrooney Gallery
2024 Contemporary Domesticity II – Taymour Grahne Projects, London
NADA Art Fair Miami – Martha’s Contemporary
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. Underwood
T Magazine, The New York Times
“Out West, The Gay Cowboy Roams Free” by Evan Moffitt
The T List, The New York Times
“RF. Alvarez’s Paintings of Queer Intimacy in The American West” by Juan A. Ramirez
The Brooklyn Rail
"RF. Alvarez: Eros” by Annabel Keenan
Cultured Magazine
“RF. Alvarez Paints Queer Domesticity With a Cowboy Twist” by Osman Can Yerebakan
New American Painting Issue 162, November 2022
Curated by Tyler Blackwell