In this series of paintings Raquel turns to the figure to explore form and emotion. She is not chasing anatomical precision but rather to listen for what the body doesn't say out loud; the silences, the pauses, the presence that lingers. Each painting carries something tender; a trace of memory, a flicker of longing a kind of fragile strength.

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This work is about being human, about the ache of remembering, the pull of desire, the beauty of vulnerability. Raquel paints to stay close to those things, not to perfect them, but to feel them.

Raquel has always been drawn to Classical Greek sculpture, not just for the idealised forms, but for the way they manage to make stillness feel alive. There is a kind of quiet presence in those figures, a serenity that doesn't shout but holds your gaze. What fascinates her most is how they use drapery, not just as clothing, but as something more intimate. It clings and falls in ways that both reveal and hide the body underneath, like a second skin.

Raquel Alvarez Sardina was born in Barcelona in 1967. At seventeen she joined the Academia Leonardo da Vinci and in 1986 she began a degree in Fine Art.

During this time she joined the studios of Sant Vicens and Boter/Santalo, and attended a drawing course at the Academia Italiana in Florence. After graduating in 1991 she came to the UK, where she completed a Masters Degree at Cardiff University.

Based in Stroud, her work is represented in The Biscuit Factory Newcastle and the Morningside Gallery Edinburgh. In 2015 she was elected to be an Associate Member of the Society of Women Artists (ASWA).

2021 Hampstead Art Society Exhibition, Fitzrovia, London

2018 'This Land is... ' international exhibition, Arcadia Contemporary, Los Angeles

2017 'Five and under' exhibition, Arcadia Contemporary, Los Angeles

Solo Exhibition, The Cube Gallery, The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle

Cotswolds Artists Show, Paragon Gallery, Cheltenham

2016 Awarded The President and Vice Presidents' Choice Award for the Best Work of Art in the Society of Women Artists

2015 Society of Women Artists, Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London

2014 - 2015 Autumn Exhibition, The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle

2014 Autumn Exhibition, Morningside Gallery, Edinburgh

2013 Solo Exhibition, The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle