Joseph Raffael at Nancy Hoffman Gallery April 27 through May 30, 2002
Unique for Raffael is the particular focus and theme of this show entitled "Scenes from a Life." Like a writer who shares with the public his personal journey in words and print, Raffael shares part of his life with us visually creating his own current autobiography in paint.
	These works, his most personal to date, invite the viewer into a vista of what surrounds him and what he sees every day: where he lives, his house inside and out; his wife in movement as partner in this life; his garden in its evolution through seasons; and finally his studio in a watercolor entitled Studio Wall. In this piece the artist paints the visual opulence of one wall in his workspace covered with images, some photographs of family members, one of a young Van Gogh; other photographs of favorite nature images--ponds with fish and birds in lush verdant branches.
The patchwork of images on the wall is anchored by the top of a bookshelf casually covered with the stuff of life, a plant, some coffee cups, a sheaf of cardboard with photos and a magnifying glass, a painting rag, a water spritzer, and hidden behind the cups, part of an announcement from an earlier gallery exhibition--the intimate objects of the studio in no particular order.
	While photos on the studio wall, these images are tiny paintings within the composition on paper. Some of the images will be familiar to those who know Raffael's work, as some have been painted by the artist over the years in full scale on canvas or on paper. Others give the viewer a peek into what inspires the artist as he paints every day. An interesting dialogue is set up in this patchwork reprising many of Raffael's lifetime motifs in paint.
The new watercolors are painted in a new way. Some of the images are in motion, loose, almost cinematic; others are a splendor of tiny intricate bits of color over the surface of a huge piece of paper, sometimes almost six feet in width, the totality resolving into an image.
	The artist treats every square inch with equal energy. There is an intensity and urgency in the paint quality that contributes to this series of works. The artist paints the more fluid pieces intentionally and intuitively, suggesting motion, giving them a different shimmer. With the watercolors of the garden, the path to the house encompassing a carp pond, flowers, trees, the side of the house--subjects less intimate--are painted with the artist's signature jewel-like detailed passages.
Unlike most artists who work in watercolor, Raffael works flat on a table painting with tiny brushes wet into dry, only rarely putting color on top of color. He then lets the paint dry. He rolls his paper to view only about 20 inches at a time. By so doing he abstracts the image and each passage demands and gets the artist's full attention. The artist believes abstraction is at the base of all we see.
	This show will bring to the viewer's attention the artist's profound commitment to painting and celebrating nature in the life that surrounds him.
Joseph Raffael was born in Brooklyn in 1933. He received his B.F.A. from Yale University in 1957 and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Florence and Rome in 1958-1959 and a Tiffany Fellowship in 1960.
Click on images for a larger view	More on Joseph Raffael
Lou Zona on Joseph Raffael	Joseph Raffael's 2001 Exhibition