Biography
Raphael was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Maryland. He began his studies in his early teens and he eventually received a Maryland Artists Equity Distinguished Scholar Finalist Award in 1995. Subsequently he enrolled at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Including a semester studying abroad in Italy at the Syracuse University in Florence, based in Piazza Savonarola, he graduated from MICA with a BFA in 1999. After some travel he moved to New York where he attended graduate school at The New York Academy of Art in TriBeCa on scholarship.
After receiving his MFA with honors in 2004 he was awarded the Walter Erlebacher Award for the study of Artistic Anatomy and one of the three distinguished NYAA year-long Post-Graduate Residencies - one of the Fellowship positions for the year 2005. The NYAA Fellowship Residency includes a studio space to make your work, teaching assistant opportunities, and an exhibition at the culmination of the year-long endeavor in the Wilkinson Cast Hall in Tribeca.
Raphael exhibited numerous times in New York including two group shows in the Chelsea district, at The National Arts Club, The Salmagundi Club, The New York Academy of Art, four drawing exhibitions at the Medialia Gallery, and a solo exhibit in SoHo. He has also exhibited at The Baltimore Museum of Art with the Maryland Artists Equity Foundation. He has been published in Denver Westword, Elle magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur, The New York Times, Page Six of The New York Post, interviewed for the NY1 Arts report with Stephanie Simon and by Melena Ryzik for The New York Times Style section video short, and most recently in the new tome dedicated to contemporary figuration published by Rizzoli entitled "The Figure" and in the Huffington Post Arts Blog authored by Daniel Maidman.
Shortly after receiving a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship Grant in the Drawing/Bookmaking category in 2007 he began teaching Anatomical Drawing at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan in their undergraduate programs.
After leaving New York, working and tutoring adults and children across the country, he returned to Maryland where he was an assistant at the Carla Massoni Gallery, and taught drawing at both the Academy Art Museum in Easton and the undergraduate Drawing program of The Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
Raphael has exhibited with the Massoni Gallery since 2006 and recently with the Sugarlift Gallery in Brooklyn in winter of 2016. He now again resides in Colorado where he continues his journey in the visual arts, teaches privately, and rides a motorcycle throughout the southwest as often as possible.
Resume
Education
The New York Academy of Art, The Graduate School of Figurative Art
M.F.A. Drawing 2004
The Maryland Institute College of Art
B.F.A. Drawing 1999
The Syracuse University Abroad, Florence, Italy
1998
Professional
The Bemis School of Art, Colorado Springs
Drawing Instructor Spring 2013 - Winter 2014
The Modbo School of Art at the Ivywild
Instructor, Spring/Summer/Fall 2013
Carla Massoni Gallery, 2012 - 2013
Gallery Assistant
The Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD, Fall 2012
Drawing Instructor
The Maryland Institute College of Art, Fall 2012
Life-Drawing Instructor
Pratt Institute, Fine Arts Department, Fall 2008
Anatomical Drawing Instructor
The School of Visual Arts, Illustration and Cartooning Department, Fall 2008
Anatomical Drawing Instructor
The New York Academy of Art Post-Graduate Residency Fellowship for Drawing, 2005, Year-Long Post-Graduate Residency with Teaching Assistant in Anatomical Sculpture
Awards, Grants, Scholarships, Private Collections
The Acadia Foundation and Richard Estes Artists Residency Grant (unattended)
2009
The New York Foundation for the Arts, Fellow of Drawing
2007
The New York Academy of Art Post Graduate Fellowship Residency and Grant
2005
Eric Fischl - Private Collection
The Peterson Collection of Contemporary Realist Art
Margot Gordon - Private Collection
Carla Massoni - Private Collection
The Walter Erlebacher Memorial Award for the Study of Artistic Anatomy
2004
The National Portrait Society Award from The National Arts Club Annual Emerging Artists Exhibition
2004
Maximum Tuition Grant from The New York Academy of Art
2002
Huggins Grace Graves Foundation Travel Grant
1998
Maryland Distinguished Scholar Finalist Award, Maryland Artists Equity Fund, with Matching Grant from The Maryland Institute College of Art
1995
Publications
American Art Collector, May 2017, Issue 139, "Argentum" Exhibition Preview quotation
May 2017
Denver Westword, featured in review of Redline Art Space "Drawing Never Dies" exhibition
August 2016
The Figure, Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture, Contemporary Perspectives,
Skira-Rizzoli, 2014
The New York Times, New York City’s Largest Bachelor Pad, Home and Garden
Fall 2009
The New York Times, Urban Eye, Interview with Melena Ryzik
Fall 2009
Fine Art Connoisseur, Volume 4 Issue 6, “Realism Now, The Peterson Collection”
December 2007
NY1, The Arts Report with Stephanie Simon, Interview
February 23, 2008
Elle, No. 259, “Beautiful Dreamers”
March 2007
Page Six, The New York Post, “Worlds Collide”
November 27, 2006
The Peterson Collection of Contemporary Realist Art www.petersoncollection.org
2006
Selected Exhibitions
"Point of Origin", Abend Gallery, Denver
June 2017
"Argentum", Contemporary Silverpoint, Marbury Gallery and School, Grammercy Park NY, NY
March 2017
"Little Demons", Group exhibition, Carla Massoni Gallery, Chestertown, MD
February - March 2017
"Drawing Never Dies", Redline Art Space, Denver
August 2016
"Ballpoint", Sugarlift Gallery, Group Exhibition
January 2016
Massoni Gallery, Summer Group Exhibition, co-curating credit
March 2014
Massoni Gallery, Summer Group Exhibition
May 2013
Massoni Gallery, Group Exhibition
March 2009
Homecoming The New York Academy of Art
November 2007
Miscellany Mana Fine Arts Space, 227 Coles Street, Jersey City, NJ
October 2007
The Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland Artist Equity Foundation Juried Exhibition
June 2007
Puchi Nippon, Centerstage
April 2007
Next Generation, Carla Massoni Gallery, Group Exhibition
January 2007
“Girlfriends”, Solo Drawing Installation Exhibit
10-12 Crosby St., SoHo
November 2006
Ruminate, Group Drawing Exhibition
Medialia Gallery, co-curator
June 2006
Project One, Group Exhibition, Centerstage
Baltimore, MD
March 2006
The New York Academy of Art Juried Salon
March 2006
New Voices, Medialia Gallery, Group Exhibition
February 2006
Eden Rock Gallery, St. Barthelemy, F.W.I., Group Exhibition
Juror, Eric Fischl
February 2006
Raandesk Group Exhibition
550 W. 29th St. NY, NY
February 2006
Take Home a Nude, Exhibition and Auction
Phillips de Pury and Company
October 2005
Fellowship Exhibition, The New York Academy of Art
September 13 – October 1, 2005
The Language of Drawing II, Medialia Gallery
June 2005
Huggins Grace Graves Scholarship Foundation
March 2005
The Ball Point Pen Drawing Exhibition, NYAA
February 2005
Natural State, Sputnik Gallery, Group Show
Brooklyn, NY
February, March 2005
Salmagundi Club, Audubon Society Juried Exhibition
October 2004
The Language of Drawing, Medialia Gallery
curator
July 2004
Metal Point Drawings, NYAA
April 2004
Mark Making in Drawing, NYAA
March 2004
The National Arts Club Annual Juried Exhibition
February 2004
The Roots of Drawing, Medialia Gallery
June, July 2003
Thesis Exhibition, The Maryland Institute College of Art
May 1999
International Monetary Fund Annual Juried Exhibition
1998
Maryland Distinguished Scholar Finalist Exhibition
1995