Paintings & Installation
1999-2004

The first works in the Canvas Series originates from the year 1999. The canvas depicted in the works has numbers on it. They were on the real canvas. Feet stick out from beneath the canvas, that falls like a curtain, and the rises and folds of the material express a three dimensional quality.

The painterly exploration of canvas as a subject and motif of the painting began in 1999. The theme is to paint the canvas itself onto the canvas. The folds and movement of the fabric are depicted on the canvas in painterly form, becoming a play with the real canvas and its image.

The paintings can be grouped into four groups. The canvas series begins with six paintings of figures that are completely or almost completely covered by canvas, so that the canvas becomes the central motif of the picture.

Rafi himself speaks of performative acts in these productions. A painter who conceals himself behind his canvas. Artist and canvas are inextricably linked. The artist himself is not visible, revealing himself only through his painted canvas.

Using light and shade the artist succeeds in creating a deceptively real canvas, in the illusional sense. Body like forms emerge under the canvas and below it feet pose in three different positions, each pair of feet showing small gestures.Standing behind the canvas, the artist staged himself.

Triptych I, Oil on canvas, 1999, each: 200 x 100 cm