Rafael Francisco Pérez -

(RafaelGen)

RafaelGen, is a Venezuelan artist and sculptor, born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1984. Son of Spanish immigrants. He received his early education in a Catholic school, where spirituality began to be a central part of his life. Since childhood his father encouraged him to participate in artistic activities: painting, theater, dance, singing, photography and guitar. He was a founding member of the first student radio station in his native country.

Driven by a deep love of nature and a pointed spirituality, he tries to catch, at a very early age, every opportunity to express his being through small artifacts, paintings, drawings and prints. His school gives him a share in various artistic initiatives.

In 2001, after finishing high school, he traveled to Italy where he participated in a cultural-religious experience in the Tuscan town of Loppiano very close to Florence (city of art). This experience completely change his outlook on life.

By this time, he studied and took art as a lifestyle. He participated in various exhibitions and activities with recognized artists such as Born Lau Kwok-Hung, Roberto Cipollone (Ciro) Cerquetti Ave, Dina Figueiredo and Erika Ivacson, all of them would be a source of inspiration for his great artistic works.

"Being able to look" is perhaps the first creative act of RafaelGen, "one must open our eyes to convince us of the beauty around us but often hidden behind the appearance of decay".

RafaelGen returns to Venezuela in 2003, and on the recommendation of his mother, he began higher education in Business Administration, specializing in Finance. But does not neglect arts, which takes him by its hand as his passion and making pieces in his moments of rest. He works for nearly a decade in Strategic Planning at national and international levels contributing to the success of domestic and foreign capital companies, mainly in the public service, private, health, banking, manufacturing and service sectors.

"I was in a monotonous work between meetings, numbers and finance for large organizations for a decade, many hours of happiness destroyed. The creative aspect was sacrificed. It is a state of disconnection of the art. This increased my desire to create and view beautiful things ".

He calls himself "Turismólogo and backpacker from birth". He travel across the 5 continents and after touring several countries around the world, he increasingly felt the need to make sense and give shape to his work through modern or contemporary art, each image of his cultural memories, from nature, architecture, gastronomy or just from ordinary people.

"I would like the material that I use to have the value of bread and water to the hungry and thirsty. They are just cold and simple metals, but they are the most fascinating, the most appropriate in its essential elements to fully satisfy my need to go on living."

RafaelGen lives and works in Rome City since 2011, in his little modern artistic laboratory. He makes pieces of unusual combinations where poetry can be enclosed in an old broken object like a rusty simple metal that after being rehabilitated, talks about the past and the present, the nobility of human life and even in its most humble sense of spirituality and the hope to stay alive.