Raphy's magical world
 

A rich, deeply worked texture, a radiance of complementary color harmonies united in chromatic progression by skillfully modulated passages, a rigorous arrangement of volumes, a precise distribution of areas of shadow and light, of cool and warm tones tuned to a dominant tone. And, despite all this, reflecting a very long period of reflection, respect for rigorous discipline, and a desire to construct the space of which he is the architect, a painting that immediately seems to be the result of spontaneity: that of Raphy, whom we know follows Boileau's advice and reworks his work twenty times at the easel. But is this painting, which, despite having matured slowly, appears to be gestural?

 

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Certainly not, since, in Raphy's work, any motif or subject objectively perceived in the present moment is extended to the second degree, that of the subjective, where it acquires dimensions and functions that the imagination lends it. Thus, the exterior landscape becomes an interior landscape, such a character experiences an action taking place in the secret self of the painter, who from then on fixes the image on the canvas. Everything therefore seems to be explained by this spontaneity testifying to a great movement of emotion, an escape into a waking dream, while reason does not lose its rights. Hoffman called this "inspiration" this moment when, inventing a fantastic tale, he never sacrificed the rules of writing to it. Painter of a parallel universe in which beauty is embodied in every being and every thing, Raphy introduces us into the immensity of his spaces where the clarities dispensed play the “Chinese Lantern and Stardust” allows us to witness the apotheosis of the “Aurora” when yellows, oranges, mauves, blues and greens in infinite shades mingle, while the “Legend of Lake Geneva” treated in cold colors (blue-green) is in harmony with the minor mode of some mountain melody. Sometimes, returning to the real form, Raphy gives it a character, here, timeless, there, fantastic. These are then: “The King of the Gnomes” (mysterious face of the master of evil genies), “Fairy and Mermaid” (two female faces measuring their evil power with their eyes), “Red Lady” whose dress matches the greens of the space in which she seems to dream, “The Beautiful Miller” evoking the series of lieder with which Schubert celebrated her beauty, many other subjects including a splendid triptych entitled “The Moon Told Me One Day”.

Happy Raphy, to whom the night star entrusts so many beautiful things, and happy the spectators to whom the artist offers them.
Such was the impression we had of this painter's exhibition, recently invited by the town hall of the 2nd arrondissement as part of the cultural program of the city of Paris.

Jacques Dubois
Review for L'Amateur d'Art
Article published in L'Amateur d'Art No. 703, April 1984