NEXT EXHIBITION

ALBERTO TORRES HERNANDEZ : ONE CONTINUOUS POEM : 15MAY-27JUNE 2025

Queering the Classics: Alberto Torres Hernandez at SQFT:SPACE

SQFT:SPACE Gallery is pleased to present *One Continuous Poem*, a solo exhibition by Spanish-born, London-based painter Alberto Torres Hernandez, running from 16 May to 27 June 2025, with a private view on 15 May.

*One Continuous Poem* reimagines and reclaims the classical gaze through a series of mythological paintings that interrogate and subvert heteronormative narratives embedded in Western art history. Drawing inspiration from Ovid's *Metamorphoses* and Titian's *Poesie* series, Alberto stages a revisionist project-replacing the passive, often objectified female bodies of classical mythology with contemporary male figures.

In works such as *Danae* (2023), *La Toilette* (2025), *Narcissus* (2021), and *Arachne* (2025), Alberto restages canonical myths with male sitters assuming traditionally female-coded roles. The result is a disruption of familiar power dynamics, inviting viewers to reconsider the boundaries of desire, gender, and identity. His paintings hover between the historical and the contemporary, the sacred and the erotic-each canvas becoming a site of transformation. Like the bodies in Ovid's epic, Alberto's subjects resist fixity. They exist in flux.

The exhibition takes its title from the prologue of *Metamorphoses*: "My mind leads me to speak of forms changed into new bodies..." Through this lens, Alberto extends the poem's fluidity into painting, weaving myth, queerness, and revision into a single continuous narrative.

The exhibition is accompanied by texts from Edoardo Monti and Clare Macdonald.

Artist Biography

Alberto Torres Hernandez was born in Seville, Spain, and lives and works in London, UK. He holds a Master in Fine Art (with Merit) from Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London (2014), a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art (2012), and a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Seville (2008).

His solo exhibitions include *When I See You, I Feel Young* at DFRG PRESS HQ, London (2022); *Sacred to Profane* at Palazzo Monti, Brescia, Italy (2019); *Past Continuous* at Casa Quota, Rome (2018); and *Sobre La Vida Y Otros Asuntos De Importancia* at Fundación Alvargonzalez, Gijon, Spain (2013).

Notable group exhibitions include *Manhood* at Project 13, London (2021); *Transatlantico* at Mana Contemporary, New Jersey (2020-21); *The Most Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo + Juliet* at DFRG PRESS HQ, London (2020); *Young Masters Art Prize* at La Galleria, London (2019); and the *BP Portrait Award* exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery, London (2013). He has shown work at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition (2013) and the Royal Society of British Artists at The Mall Galleries (2018).

Alberto is the recipient of the British Institution Award (Royal Academy, 2013), and was shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award and Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize. He completed a residency at Palazzo Monti in 2019. His work is held in multiple public and private collections including Soho House Group (London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Somerset), MAAM Rome, and the Public Court of Mairena del Alcor in Spain.