Words on Art

Tag: exhibition

  • From Flowers Gallery to Bankside: Bianca Rafaella’s Evolving Brushwork

    How a lunch break in London returned me to this female artist’s layered, luminous world

    A soft, abstract painting featuring white flowers with delicate blue accents against a muted pink background. Painting by Bianca Raffaella.
    Murmurous Shadows (2024) by Bianca Raffaella. Photo credit: Flowers Gallery.

    Around a year ago, somewhere between the end of February and the beautiful prospects of spring and sunshine that come when March finally makes an appearance, I was around central London doing one of my favourite things – gallery hopping – and found myself on Cork Street in Mayfair. I was lucky enough to be there at the exact right time, for I discovered the wonderful artistic world of Margate-based artist Bianca Raffaella in her show Faint Memories; a collection of evocative and emotional textural flower paintings that, being rightly exhibited at Flowers Gallery, left a very remarkable memory – far from faint – in my head.

    Abstract painting of white flowers against a soft pink background, with delicate brush strokes and drips of paint for a dreamy effect. Painting by Bianca Raffaella.
    The Leaves Hast Never Known (2024) by Bianca Raffaela. Photo credit: Flowers Gallery.

    Now, a year later, after another very long, wet and dark winter, I have the privilege of being able to spend my lunch break in the always inspiring Art Academy in Bankside. I headed there last week after passing by their inviting big windows on my way to work and making a mental note to return during my midday break. Little did I know I would be straightaway starstruck when, upon entering the doors, I saw those fantastic words written on their exhibition intro wall: Bianca Raffaella.

    On view from 25 February to 8 March 2026, The Women in Art Prize Exhibition celebrates Rafaella’s recognition as the Overall Winner of the 2025 prize and brings together a powerful selection of her recent works. Set within the light-filled, minimalist exhibition space of the Art Academy, the exhibition centres on her expressive monoprints and large-scale portraits from Just Out of Reach and She Cannot Fade (both 2025). Alongside these elating, gestural works, eight delicate white-on-white relief pieces introduce a quieter, tactile dimension; reinforcing Rafaella’s ongoing exploration of perception, memory and the shifting nature of sight.

    Abstract painting featuring soft brush strokes in shades of white, cream, and pale green, with hints of blue and small white flowers, creating a serene and dreamy atmosphere. Painting by Bianca Raffaella.
    Fading Flora (2024) by Bianca Raffaela. Photo credit: Flowers Gallery.

    My first encounter with Raffaella’s work stayed with me due to its ethereal, spontaneous, almost nostalgic nature. The paintings in Faint Memories take shape with layers of muted pinks, washed lilacs, chalky whites and softened greens, which depict in an abstract yet slightly botanical way, soft images of flowers with thin stems, more suggested than defined. In particular, the works Fading Flora and Murmurous Shadows (both 2024), with soft touches of delicate blue, caught my eye, evoking Woman at Her Toilette by the female Impressionist Berthe Morisot. And it was precisely this colourful detail that made me connect the dots immediately the moment I walked into Raffaella’s current exhibition in Bankside.

    A woman in a white dress with a blue ribbon is seen from the back as she arranges her hair in front of a mirror. The setting has soft, muted colors and floral patterns in the background. Painting by Berthe Morisot.
    Woman at Her Toilette (1875–80) by Berthe Morisot. Photo credit: Art Institute Chicago.

    Prints such as Echoes of Disorientation and Invisible in a Crowded Room (both 2025) retain the elusiveness of the artist’s relatively abstract approach to painting, while remaining perfectly clear. Her collection of portraits reveals different degrees of detail, with hardly-there strokes of paint and texture that create wonderfully intimate images.

    An abstract painting featuring a face with a light color palette, predominantly blue and white hues, on a brown paper background. Painting by Bianca Raffaella.
    Invisible in a Crowded Room (2025) by Bianca Raffaella. Photo credit: Words on Art.

    The soft details of gold and silver in some of the prints, like Childlike Wonder (2025), at times evoke that romantic image of mythical nature deities and remind me of the mastery of shining pigments and the natural world by US-based artist Katie Rogers, which I have followed for decades.

    An abstract painting featuring strokes of white, gold, and muted colors, creating a textured, layered appearance. Painting by Bianca Raffaella.
    Childlike Wonder (2025) by Bianca Raffaella. Photo credit: Words on Art.

    While Rafaella’s practice also includes a more expansive use of colour and adventurous brushstrokes, as well as less abstract representations, it is her proficiency at using chalky whites and faded hues that has attracted me from the beginning. It is also what has made an enduring impression on me, staying with me in each encounter with her work.

    Abstract painting with soft brush strokes in shades of blue, red, and silver, creating a textured and layered effect on a neutral background. Painting by Bianca Raffaella.
    Projection of My Reality (2025) by Bianca Raffaela. Photo credit: Words on Art.

    In her own words, this line from the video on display at Art Academy in Bankside summarises the emotion of the experience perfectly: “Sometimes I can just allow myself to feel”. And perhaps that is precisely why encountering her work once again, just as winter begins to give us a break and I can see the first buds of my light pink camellia blooming, feels so fitting. A year after discovering her on Cork Street, the memory is no longer faint. In fact, it reminds me why I continue to seek out those quiet, luminous moments hidden behind gallery doors.

    The Women in Art Prize Exhibition at Art Academy in Bankside is open and free to visit until 8th March 2026, closing on International Women’s Day with a special 1pm conversation with Bianca Raffaella.

    If you don’t have the chance to see it, you can find more images from the exhibition on my Instagram.

  • Reflections of Movement

    In the “Lines of Feeling” section of the National Portrait Gallery in London, two drawings – full of movement, energy and feeling – stand out with dynamic lines and emotional impact.

    Study of John (2010) by Jenny Saville 
    Richard Nicoll (2016) by Howard Tangye

    On one hand, “Study of John” (2010) by Jenny Saville. On the other, “Richard Nicoll” (2016) by Howard Tangye. Both artworks show a drawing of a seated man; one older, one younger, respectively. Both are the centre point of focus, with no additional images or colours on the background. Although drawn with quick, sketch-like lines, both pieces explore a level of emotion that reflects a fleeting moment.

    Saville, whose artistic practice has been described as “reinventing figure painting for contemporary art”, invokes her deep fascination for the extremities of anatomy, focusing with greater detail on the features of the face and the hands of the subject. Her study, painted with black charcoal over a stained-aged piece of parchment, shows an anatomically more detailed image of a man sitting on an armed chair, surrounded by additional lines that represent the remnants of what was his previous pose. A peaceful, yet dynamic expression of his movements during the sitting. Unlike Saville’s, the drawing of the figurative abstract artist Howard Tangye includes some layers of colour, while also exploring the essence of the subject through his movement – perhaps even his feelings – during the sitting. The portrait of the late Richard Nicoll presents him in two calm, meditative overlayered poses. With his eyes closed, his hands with fingers intertwined on his lap, one outline shows him with his legs separated and his head hanging down (as if asleep), while the other shows a more active posture, immersed in thought, with his right ankle over his left knee. The quiet yet colourful image – contrasting with Saville’s monochromatic work – almost seems to reflect with this movement of the lines the taciturn mood of the subject.

    Both artworks proclaim a level of emotion and engagement in the present moment that immerse the viewer, almost as if they were attending that precise sitting, seeing the subject move, act, and feel while the artists expertly outline the reflections of their movements on to the canvases.