INSPIRED THEMES
All of Raphy's work takes its inspiration from the themes of the universe, nature, life, spirit and music.
"My painting is above all a hymn to nature.
Nature is of course the entire universe: light, matter, life.»
nature, life
The theme of nature comes in the sea, birds, fish.
It extends into the cosmos. The central theme of Raphy's work is indeed the origin of life, the creation of the world.
"Nature imitates Nature. Matter is formed, destroyed and regenerated.
Life can only obey these fundamental principles.
The future of man is the conquest of the universe.
The man will fly away towards the stars; he is impelled to it by the logic of Evolution.
His "will" is dictated by the great law of the universe: "FORWARD" »
"Light and matter are in balance.
Light, like matter, reproduces from galaxy to galaxy.
The reproduction of living matter could not take place if the principle did not already exist in the universe. Nature imitates Nature.
LIFE IS MATTER THAT BECOMES CONSCIOUS OF ITSELF»
The Moon, stars, planets, the universe and the creation of the world
Raphy explores the universe through many canvases and to depict the appearance of life around the theme of the Moon.
"Life is the daughter of gravitation.
The Inner Form of all life is the spiral (“form” and “effect” of gravitation)
Gravitation is a headlong rush; the same is true of life
Life may have appeared on the earth by the effect of the differences in gravity due to the rotation of the Moon around the earth (tides etc...)
These variations of gravity imprinted on terrestrial matter the notion of RHYTHM “
Life would not exist without rhythm“ (Anton Dvorak).
Gravity is attraction. Love is attraction.
Life is the poetry of Love. Love is the poetry of Life.
The Moon, mother of love, rhythms fertilization and life »
"We're made of the same stuff as the sun and the stars
Each living being carries within itself the secret of the Universe.
Matter is the most extraordinary thing there is; is it not the support of life?
Remember that you are dust, yes, ... but what dust!!»
Faith, religion, saints, resurrection, paradise
Raphy's paintings evoke the mystery of faith, miracles, healing, resurrection.
"God exists in potential within each of us.
Above all, we must not look for it elsewhere, neither on the surface of the earth, nor at the bottom of the galaxies.
To find it, one must “realize” it in oneself, in one's own substance;
then, the extraordinary appears, the miracle happens. »
The spirits, the legends
The birds
When we observe a large number of paintings by Raphy, we realize that, whatever the subject,
birds appear there very often; they are quite the only figurative elements and
the only animal species (with fishes) represented.
The sea, the ships
The music, the songs, the rhythm
Music is omnipresent and inseparable from Raphy's painting. He has always painted permanently bathed in classical music.
Music and legends have been sources of inspiration of considerable interest.
Many of his paintings titles pay homage to composers or musicians (Schubert, Sibélius, Wagner, Liszt, Messiaen etc.) or refer to opera characters, or certain pieces.
And for Raphy, music also extends to birdsong to which he devotes a number of works.
For Raphy, the rhythm of a canvas is a fundamental notion:
“he gives it its style and character”.
The wind, the storm
The memories, the trip
The escape into the elsewhere, the past, the return to oneself. The theme of the search for the past is also found in a series of paintings entitled “Souvenirs”.
"Many paintings are “memories“: engraving the past on the present.
In Art more than in anything else, the RISK is to be taken:
Work all his life to somehow succeed in communicating his message, or fall into complete oblivion.
Only TIME will sort it out.
A hundred or two hundred years have passed so quickly!
We will wait...! (to see) »
Armenia
Armenia is subject to some painting as well as genocide. There are also inscriptions written in Armenian characters on many works.
"To mortal anguish, to dark despair, I have opposed Art.
AI 'infinite distress, to morbid misery, Art,
the art that gives birth in the depths of the soul to the light that consoles,
star that smiles and restores hope and heals. »