Raphael Noz
Artist
San Francisco, CA, USA
raphaelnoz.wordpress.com
My work deals with the ancient conflict of Europe and America, as played out in the drama of the fall of Mexico at the hands of the Spanish Conquistadors. This ancient history produced the Mexican ‘mestizo’ race of people who are not just indigenous and not just Spanish.
As an adult, I became very interested in my Mexican heritage, and began using the inspiration of its artistic expressions to explore my own themes.
I attended California College of the Arts in San Francisco, receiving a Masters Degree in Fine Arts in 2009. Having explored many new avenues including performance work during my time at CCA, my focus is shifting now to the printed word, and to constructions of shaped sheet metal.
I am finding inspiration in the mexican tradition of ‘hoja de lata’, or hammered tin, and am coming up with wall mounted shaped constructions of vessels and domestic objects.
My most recent inspirations for my work has been the finding of a very old letter by a friend, which arrived at his house many many years after it was sent. I became fascinated by the idea of a message being lost somewhere only to find its place years later. I have been creating ‘antique’ letters using a very old typewriter and leaving them at galleries.
