Alessandro Raho (born 1971,

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of The Bahamas. It is on the island of New Providence, which had a population of 246,329 in 2010, or just over 70% of the entire population of The Bahamas. As of April 2023, the preliminary results of ...

) is a British artist. His work has been shown at the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Career

Born in Nassau, Bahamas, Raho moved to London and attended

Croydon College Croydon College is a large further and higher education college located in Croydon, within the London Borough of Croydon. Its origins can be traced to a School of Art that was established in 1868, which subsequently merged with Croydon Polytechn ...

(1989–90) and then Goldsmith College, graduating in 1994 with a BA in Fine Art. In 1995, he was included in the

Young British Artist The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Golds ...

showcase ''

Brilliant! ''Brilliant!'' was a group exhibition of contemporary art held at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA between 22 October 1995 and 7 January 1996. It traveled to the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Texas, where it was ...

'' at

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...

, Minneapolis. In early 1996, he was hailed as one of the great promises in British art, and had expositions noted in the American and the French press. In 2001, Raho participated in an exposition called ''Unseen Landscapes'', in 2002, he was in the important Painting on the Move exhibition in at the

Kunsthalle Basel Kunsthalle Basel is a contemporary art gallery in Basel, Switzerland. As Switzerland's oldest and still most active institution for contemporary art established in the year of 1872, Kunsthalle Basel forms a vital part of Basel's cultural centre ...

. In 2003, exhibited his work at Cheim & Read Gallery in New York City, where his portraits received critical attention of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. In 2004, he was commissioned by the

in London to paint a portrait of English actress Dame Judi Dench. Imagining Dench as a "wealthy housewife," he painted her in a way that "thrilled and flattered" her. Raho's work is collected by

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...

, and has been shown in Tokyo, New York, and Salzburg. Two of his pencil drawings, ''Catherine'' (2003) and ''Ewan'' (2004), are in the collection of New York's

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, as part of a 2005 donation by the Judith Rothschild Foundation. In 2014 Raho was nominated and short-listed for the

John Moores Painting Prize The John Moores Painting Prize is a biennial award to the best contemporary painting, submission is open to the public. The prize is named for Sir John Moores, noted philanthropist, who established the award in 1957. The winning work and short- ...

. The prize was a subject of a BBC 4 documentary. Alessandro Raho is represented by Alison Jacques Gallery, London.

Style

Raho paints portraits of friends and family, seascapes and landscapes and still lives. He uses fine oil painting with a fresh contemporary approach. His paintings and photographs were described as dealing with "narrative, nostalgia and desire," and he employs intricate technical processes "to make his paintings luxuriously photographic and his photographs deceptively painterly."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raho, Alessandro 1971 births Living people British artists Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of Croydon College British contemporary artists Bahamian artists