Raphael Zelfa

French artist based in Deptford, London

Artist Statement

I am interested in the newsreel, the impact of the picture on the viewer, the pain, the suffering, the drama. Because of the unrelenting flow of drama in the world, the deeply concerning pictures of last week are superseded by the more disturbing ones received yesterday.  In a fast paced society, we swallow information without ever digesting it.  In my current work I use opaque mediums such as coloured wax, gloss to express the passage of time, on the local and the global. I am mixing my personal, intimate consciousness with the collective one. As institutionalised history discloses only what it wants to promote, we reach a point where isolated information has been obliterated and the communication with the past stops. In my work, I would like to understand this process, and resuscitate some of that information that is to be lost.

Qualifications and training

2005: Ba(Hons) Fine Art, Degree at University of East London, London
2002: Foundation Art and Design, London
1999-2001: Putney School of Art and Design (Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Printing)

Group exhibitions

2006: Deptford X Showcase, Where is DAN?, Untitled Gallery, 58 Wandsworth High Street, Mashed Potato Gallery.
2005: Trinity Buoy Wharf, gallery 39 (Participation in show with The Band of Nod), Café Gallery (Performance with The Band of Nod), AVA building (UEL).
2004: Trinity Buoy Wharf, APT gallery, 291 Gallery (Video projection).
2003: Oscar’s Bar, Trinity Buoy Wharf.

Work experience

2003:  Work with Richard Wilson on the Butterfly project at the Wapping Gallery for 2 month.

Competitions, prices and awards

2005: Head of School’s Prize for outstanding work in Fine Art, from the School of Architecture and the Visual Arts at UEL.