Rachel Heller

RACHEL HELLER (1973-2023)

British artist Rachel Heller's work focuses on life drawings, figures without vanity or pretension, still lives and landscapes. Although impressionistic and often abstracted, her drawings and paintings have an intense realism due to their solidity and sincere, confident strength. 

Heller was born with Down's Syndrome but this never stood in the way of her formidable powers of self-expression, her command of imagery and colour, and her assured use of line and a kaleidoscope palette. Her energetic figuration and passionate still lives are based on an acute sense of observation with inventive, honest interpretations. 

Heller's solo exhibitions began at the John Jones Art Centre in London when she was twenty two. Throughout her career she studied at The Prince's Drawing School, the Slade School of Art, and Byam Shaw, London. Heller was awarded the Hugh Casson Drawing Prize from the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2006, and was a regular participant of the annual RA show through 2023. Her work was included in group exhibitions including the Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London in 2005, Heart and Sold at the Salford Museum & Art Gallery in 2016, and in 2021 she was featured in Prismatic Minds, curated by Jennifer Gilbert and Russell Tovey at Flowers on Cork Street, London.