M O N TA U K
RAPHAEL MAZZUCCO
RA P H A E L M A Z Z U C CO
“I feel that life is a circle, it’s a journey that always ends back at home. Montauk is where I live, and where I create most of my work. I draw a lot of inspiration from my surroundings and love being in the moment; but even if the work is photographed in the remotest location, the journey always comes full circle back to my home, back to Montauk and my paint covered floors.” R A P H A E L M A Z Z U CCO
F O R E W OR D BY LO U IS M EI SEL I have been collecting for 67 years, since 1947 when I was 5 years old! Not baseball cards or comic books...well, maybe some, but also Tiffany glass and scuttle shaving cups, a family pursuit. Anyway, 50 years ago I acquired my first Abstract Expressionist painting and shortly thereafter my first Pop art. By 1969 I had coined the word ‘photorealism’ and began building the best works on paper collection of the genre not to mention the major collection of paintings. I represent most of the photorealists. In the early 70’s I began paying attention to American illustration and focused on what I called in my 1996 book “The Great American Pin-up” and created the best collection of original art of that genre, and am the primary gallery for this work. My collections include over 1,000 photographs and are heavy on Jock Sturges whom I represent. All told, my wife Susan and I have over 100 collections and very few are duplicated or similar to what any others collect. Our challenge is finding a category which catches our attention and is, and has been, overlooked by others, and then to create the best collection, learn all there is about the category, and then exhibit and publish it. The past 20 years have been frustrating as far as the art world is concerned. We have not found very much that interests us. When an art magazine lists ‘The 100 top collectors’ or something like that, 80% will have all the same items. Why? Because very few today are acquiring art because they like what it looks like. Of course, that is why art was collected for most of human history, but not now! Now it is about investment, status and finding art that speaks to us and connects with our aesthetics. All of the above personal history is relevant to where I am going with this commentary. After years of frustration, of wanting to continue doing what we do, we discovered an artist whose work has been inspired by and influenced by so much of what has interested us for so long. Raphael Mazzucco is as innovative in what I feel is real art as any artist I have seen in decades. While utilising painting, drawing, photography, collage and all the other traditional tools and materials artists have invented and worked with throughout history, he is making new, interesting, innovative and, most important to me, if not to the so-called art establishment, beautiful objects to behold. His imagery strongly involves the female figure, as has been true of a preponderance of artists, at least in their figure drawings. Most artists over the centuries have relied on
working with the female nude in learning that discipline. His ‘daytime job’ as a fashion photographer has enabled him to see and utilise this universally loved aspect and subject matter in new ways in most of his fine art paintings. The paintings! Yes, they are paintings. They are infused with abstract gestures, Pop quotations, even a touch of graffiti. His work is aggressively colourful, and includes still life, landscape and of course the figurative elements. The artist is informed and able to advance on all aspects of realism in art. The nude imagery is always sexy but chaste, a quality which made the pin-ups of the 30’s - 70’s so acceptable and appealing. Raphael is extremely inventive in the inclusion, placement and statements created by the juxtaposition of these wonderful nudes within the context of each painting. The result is always engaging and asks for attention and will not let one pass casually. Turning the pages in this volume will be slower as each image demands more than a passing glance. In order to be more leftist, socialist, politically correct and multi-cultural – according to some influential writers – artists have been taught, and we have been told, that ‘beauty’ and ‘quality’ are words to be abandoned in the art and other cultural areas. Why? Because so few can achieve what those words are about and we want everyone to have a chance to be an artist, musician or writer. It is said that to be a significant ‘artist’ one must be able to simply express themselves and draw attention to misery, suffering, prejudice and all that bothers them. Quality, skills, discipline and knowledge need not apply. Well, it just doesn’t work. I say they should do all that on their psychiatrists’ couches. What we need to inspire us as viewers, listeners and readers are more artists such as a Raphael Mazzucco! An artist who unabashedly paints, photographs and portrays all aspects of beauty, be it the nude, the sunset, the sea or the clouds. No ugliness, no political statements, no depictions of misery. Goya did that long ago. Picasso made the Guernica. There was a time and place and reason. The world now is filled with misery, suffering, violence, hatred, war and general unhappiness. Artists should be going against the prevalent mantra of showing all that. Artists should be giving a look at hope, beauty and happiness. That will be more helpful for mankind. Raphael Mazzucco is doing that and hopefully is the forefront of many artists who will realise this as a mission.
IN THE WIND Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 32½” x 25½”
LAVENDER NUMBERS Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 60” x 45”
WATER DRAGON Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 30” x 59”
LOVE Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 40” x 60”
EARTH FEATHERS Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 60” x 48½”
EMERALD VOLCANO Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 60” x 40”
KIRA Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 60” x 40”
VIETNAM PASTEL 2 Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 40” x 60”
CHANTAL Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 58” x 38½”
MORNING TIME ArcArchival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 60” x 40”
GEORGIA 1 Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 60” x 40”
ICELAND Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 25½” x 32½”
PAINT Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 40” x 60”
1.2.3 Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 25½” x 32½”
SNOW Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 25½” x 32½”
LOOK AT ME ArArchival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 60” x 40”
ROCK Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 60” x 40”
BEAUTY 2 Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 53” x 36½”
BELEZA Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 56½” x 44”
END OF THE ROAD Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 41” x 59”
DO NOT ENTER Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 37¼” x 55”
BLACK WATER Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 40” x 60”
SENSATIONS Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 32½” x 25½”
LOST Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 25½” x 32½”
BURNT SIENNA Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 25½” x 32½”
ICE CUBE Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 38” x 58”
BLUE AMAZON Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 43¼” x 60”
EMOTIONS 2 Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 40” x 60”
LOST AT SEA Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 32½” x 25½”
OUR WORLD Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 48” x 60”
AFRICAN BUTTERFLY Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 54” x 46”
EVERLASTING Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 25½” x 32½”
ETERNITY Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 46” x 60”
OUT OF AFRICA Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 40” x 60”
THE MARKET Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 38¾” x 57¼”
EYE OF THE STORM Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 60” x 43½”
RAINFOREST Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 36½” x 58½”
BELONG HERE Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 34” x 48”
IN A WORLD Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 25½” x 32½”
WINTER Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 32½” x 25½”
YOU Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 32½” x 25½”
ELEMENT OF WATER 1 Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 40” x 60”
LEAF Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 60” x 40”
PETRA Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 32½” x 25½”
FLOATING Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 25½” x 32½”
ANIMAL KINGDOM Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 40½” x 60”
ONE WAY Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 25½” x 32½”
RAIN Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 25½” x 32½”
ALONE Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 40” x 60”
RAINBOW Archival Print, Mixed Media, Encased in Resin Image Size 54” x 42”
B I O G RAP HY Raphael Mazzucco is one of the world’s most influential and talented fashion photographers and contemporary artists, critically acclaimed for his singular eye and his captivating aesthetic. After years spent honing his craft in Italy, France and Amsterdam, his arrival in New York City garnered attention from some of fashion’s elite, creating iconic imagery for the likes of Victoria’s Secret, Guess Jeans, L’Oreal, Ralph Lauren and Bergdorf Goodman. His imagery has appeared in L’Official, French and Italian Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue, Marie Claire, Playboy, and Vanity Fair, featuring not only his editorial fashion imagery but celebrity portraiture of notable actors including Benicio Del Toro, Matt Damon, Susan Sarandon, and Elizabeth Banks. His artistic visual narrative captures the human form set against a backdrop of startling landscapes spanning the continents, from Icelandic glaciers to African wildlife, the outback of Western Australia to Vietnamese rice paddies. He incorporates these documentary forms into building a layered narrative through paint, collage, and hand-lettered texts. The artwork reflects a palimpsest approach of articulation through reinvention. Through these works, we journey alongside Raphael through terrains both geographic and emotional, artistic expressions that evidence his imprimatur on our culture as a whole. A two-year tour of exhibitions that travelled the globe, presenting his work to Milan, Florence, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Singapore, Los Angeles, Art Basel in Miami, and New York City was met with critical praise. Following the tour, Raphael immediately launched into an artwork and photo essay book collaboration with music impresario, Jimmy Iovine and rap producer, Sean “Diddy” Combs. Interview Magazine joined with Carolyn Murphy in summer 2013 to host an exhibition of his work at his Montauk, Long Island home, adding to recent profiles of him in the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Style Section. Paris Vogue has also featured Raphael several times, commenting that his style “oozes sensuality and charm.” Raphael’s work is being featured in a month-long exhibition in London’s esteemed Castle Fine Art, Mayfair. A native of Vancouver, Canada, Raphael lives in Montauk, with his wife, Lisa, and his son, Sascha.
The images contained within this literature are an artistic representation of the collection. To best experience our art, we recommend you contact your local gallery to arrange a viewing. Š Washington Green 2014. The content of this brochure is subject to copyright and no part can be reproduced without prior permission. washingtongreen.co.uk