Alessandro Raho English, b. 1971

Alessandro Raho (b. 1971) is a UK-based artist whose practice examines the quiet act of looking at and into people and everyday objects. Recognized for his stylistically pared down yet emotionally charged portraits of friends and family, the realist painter has developed a distinctive visual language of depicting his sitters in a delicate and intimate way.

Raho’s figures are often presented in a compositionally static manner – front-facing, situated in the middle of the canvas, placed against a white backdrop, and their gaze aimed directly at the viewer. By stripping away any decorative details and letting the figure confront the viewer head on, Raho creates a palpable sense of tension that can be felt both emotionally and psychologically.

In more recent years, he has expanded his practice to translating the same sensibility in smaller scale still life paintings. Through depictions of everyday objects like flowers, ceramic figurines, and books, Raho breathes life into inanimate objects and creates the same atmosphere of emotional tension, nostalgia, and narrative with brushstrokes that are flat and immaculate at times, and expressive at others.

Alessandro Raho’s work has been exhibited internationally in Tokyo, London, New York, Paris, and more, and is in the public collections of The British Museum, National Portrait Gallery, and Tate in London, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among many. He has also been commissioned by Brasenose College at The University of Oxford, executed the official portrait of Matthew Barzun, US Ambassador to the UK, as well as a portrait of Dame Judi Dench by the National Portrait Gallery.