Contrary to popular belief, I didn’t always have a knack for art or being popular. In fact, I struggled with shyness and self-doubt for much of my life. But at some point, I decided to take control of my own story and push my own boundaries. I turned my passion for art into a self-conducted social experiment, determined to prove to myself and the world that I had a powerful creative voice. Along the way, I’ve learned valuable lessons about self-confidence and self-expression, such as the importance of investing in oneself, choosing carefully who influences us, and facing our fears head-on. Despite the challenges and fears that still accompany my art career, I am motivated by the belief that my journey can inspire others to find their own powerful voices and live the life they want.

-Rafi Perez

Rafi Perez began creating art as a child by using found objects around his home. He would often get in trouble for using items and surfaces not meant for artistic expression. His parents eventually would make sure Rafi had art supplies. Despite maintaining his passion for creating throughout his life, he ended up going into the corporate world to acquire stability and security. He quickly moved up the corporate ladder and realized he was sacrificing his creative spirit in chasing security. After what felt like a lifetime of being a dependable, responsible, and likable employee, he went “Rogue.” He went against all the standards and expectations of him and became the artist he was always meant to be.

He left all the security behind and found comfort in facing the unknown. He challenged himself to face obstacles and make himself comfortable in any situation. He renovated an old 1992 Explorer and traveled the country with his (now) wife Klee Angelie to further challenge themselves. This journey was an eye-opening and life-changing experience that shifted his perspective on possibility, coloring the world with wonder and persistence to enjoy every moment of life entirely. Every moment on the road and beyond would be seen through a new lens of empowerment.

Today, Rafi stands for himself by being authentic through his artistic journey, where he meets all challenges and successes as an ever-evolving adventure for self-awareness and growth. Rafi believes that everyone can find their own brand of empowerment and strength. He wants his viewer to be reminded of their own extraordinary ability to blaze their own trail and be who they want to be.

Rafi is an established artist whose sense of adventure and constant experimentation in his studio has led him to develop a painting technique with unique characteristics. His ambition with his paintings is to use symbolic shapes, figures, texture, and colors to express his deepest emotions and passion for life. This leads him to apply paint to the canvas in unusual and interesting ways. His paintings also require layers upon layers of paint to create a sensuous and turbulent surface texture that is as vital and as complex as life itself. He uses color to allure an imaginative and emotional response from the viewer. His dynamic depictions of the human experience and expressions are the product of many days of working and reworking.

Rafi is the author of The Rogue Artist’s Survival Guide Series. He has become both a mentor and an inspiration to an international collection of Rogue Artists by bringing vision, encouragement, and love to talented artists trying to find their own way.

Artist Statement:

My whole life, I’ve been exploring the profound question ‘what does it mean to be human?’ I spend my time questioning the narrative and labels that come with status, gender, wealth, race, and other social structures that have power in controlling how we can see the world. We tend to identify humans into groups and generalize who they are based on social constructs.

This is how we can tell one person from another. We look at their gender, race, and social-economic status and label them into neat little boxes. We all take part in it as it evolves through time and gets passed down the generations.

Yet, it is the things that are immutable that tell us the truth about our humanity. We all cry, laugh, hurt, love, and want to be loved. Those things that bring us together are ultimately what is rooted in truth. Our ability to experience all of the good, bad, and ugly and still persist with love and strength is the stuff of life, and it permeates everything I do and all that I represent.

I am on a journey to rediscover the source of our power, the human spirit, which thrives when we remember our strength, passion, love, empowerment, and badassery.

My exhibitions are a testament to the human spirit. There is a calling within each work that I create to explore and understand the human experience. The figures in my paintings are mainly in a moment of metamorphosis and realization of a deeper narrative. As with life, it is those moments that can change everything.

TO SEE RAFI’S LIST OF AWARDS AND SHOWS OVER THE YEARS, VISIT RAFI WAS HERE STUDIOS

More About Rafi’s Art

His Paintings represent the discovery of mysteries of the subconscious mind that are part of his own personal journey in life. The art holds the promise of dreams, visions, fears, intangibles, and will. It is a collaboration of the mind and spirit. It is designed to speak to the viewer in a confidential language. Once a piece of art grabs you, you cannot help but interact with it; it demands contemplation, study, feeling, and flights of fancy.

“He is driven to communicate visual qualities of perhaps the external environment which offers us freedom and inspiration as we cope with awesome focal points in the vast open space surrounding our existence. He attempts to show the internal passion of human sensuality that brings quality to our senses stimulating and extending our consciousness elevating life as individuals or sharing space with others around us.Ultimately Rafi seems to convey simple sophistication and intellectual freedom as he uses the visual language to express the human potential.” – Spiros Zachos (PO10TIAL Magazine)

Rafi’s work can be found in a myriad of public and private art collections both in the United States and abroad, He currently lives and works in Oil City, Pennsylvania.

Hello and welcome! I am a contemporary jewelry artist who creates original signature pieces that have a story and a history to reveal, specializing in hammered and forged metal, wire work and stone jewelry.

I am endlessly inspired by the timeless beauty of the natural world and the very personal and dynamic experience of being human, the “Stuff Of Life”. My pieces are designed to create the same sense of awe and appreciation that a person might feel gazing up at the stars or walking through a beautiful forest, and to resonate with the power and beauty of human experiences and emotions in much the same way that a well written piece of music can resonate with those things.

I come from a musical background and possess a passion for harmony, balance, resonance, and rhythm. I see these qualities not only in music, but everywhere I look in nature, in people, and in life experiences. I like to tap into these themes and translate them into my jewelry creations. I have been told that my jewelry has a flow, and a life and energy about it that is unique and palpable.

I use old world jewelry making skills and techniques, and a loving, nurturing approach to the creative process. Everything is done by hand with great care in my studio. I source local materials whenever possible, and always use ethically sourced stones and recycled metals. I work predominantly in sterling silver, 14k gold filled, copper, and 14k gold.

I love talking to people about my work, and while I can (and do enjoy to) talk about the hard facts of a piece, what the stone is, where it came from, how I constructed a design and so on… I find that just as much, I like to (and I tend to) talk about the way it makes me feel, the train of thought it took me on, the contemplative quality of it, or the timeless essence present in it. I like pretty things just as much as the next person, but I care very deeply for the underlying meaning and substance of things, thoughts, feelings and ideas. The pieces are lovely adornments, they are meant to be, but when a person finds a deeper resonance with the feeling of one of my creations and the appreciation for it, that’s what really does it for me.

Why? Because I believe fully that art is so much more than eye candy or decoration. It is a profound form of human expression and it can and does have a great impact on our lives. Jewelry, art that you can wear on your body, has the ability to connect you with and convey emotions, memories, stories, beliefs and ideas, as well as remind you that you are a powerful and gorgeous being, connected to a powerful and gorgeous environment. That is why I wear jewelry, and why I create it.

I was born and raised in Illinois, right outside of Chicago and I devoted the majority of my time to music and various creative art endeavors in my area. The people I’ve met and worked with, and the dynamic energy of my surroundings, coupled with an unstoppable curiosity and passion for creative expression lent itself to an ever evolving body of work and an ever evolving journey as an artist and a human.

I currently live and work in Oil City Pennsylvania, a city and community which continues to inspire me daily. I participate in local events and give back to my community whenever possible. My work has been shown at local shows, markets, charitable events and galleries, as well as featured in several publications as I continue to grow within my surroundings, and ever outward into the world.