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Issue link: https://digital.miamilivingmagazine.com/i/1543371
Miami Living (ML): Thank you so much for being here with us Raf. Before we dive into your work, can you take us into your studio for a moment? What does a typical day look and feel like for you when you’re painting, from the first quiet moments to stepping back from the canvas? Raf: Most days start quietly. No music at first. I like to get there before the day starts pulling at me; before emails, calls, and decisions show up. I’ll usually start putting paint on the canvas playing with shapes and colors until one shape or color sets the pace for the piece. Letting materials do what they want to do instead of forcing an outcome. Toward the end of the day, I step back and try not to overthink it. If the work feels settled, I leave it alone. Learning when to stop has probably been the hardest part. I usually paint 90% during the day but finish 100% of my work late at night. ML: Growing up in Barbados with no working television, surrounded instead by bikes, surfing, and an art-filled family environment, how do you think that your slower, more sensory childhood shows up in the scale of your work today? Raf: That pace shaped everything. Without constant noise, you learn to sit with things like light, texture, repetition. Barbados gave me space to look closely and let my imagination run. The scale comes from that. Big canvases slow you down. You don’t just glance at them. You have to stand there. It’s similar to the ocean or the horizon; not loud, but expansive and overwhelming, but layered in peace. ML: Your paintings are minimalist in form but expansive in feeling, often circling the question “why are we here?” Do you feel like you’re searching for answers on the canvas, or creating space for viewers to ask their own questions?