USC Fisher Museum of Art

The USC Fisher Museum of Art will feature Los Angeles born artist Victor Raphael in a 30-year survey of his work exploring the theme of travels and wanderings. The exhibition will also include newly created works in a variety of media, testifying to the artist's wide-ranging interests in travel from here to there. From Raphael's imposing paintings and his daring prints; from his photo based imagery-especially his intimate Polaroids-to his videos and groundbreaking films created with contemporary electronic media and interactive technologies, Raphael's artistic perceptions and expressions of the earthly and celestial universes engage and enlarge our own. Pieces from the ongoing Space Fields series will be included as well as work stemming from his trips to Japan, Paris, Turkey, Mexico and Alaska. Self-portraits culled from various bodies of work, and works created in collaboration with other artists will also be presented that connote Raphael's exploration of personal inner space in addition to his inquiry to outer space.

Born in 1950 and living and working in Los Angeles, Victor Raphael utilizes varied media in his artwork. His water paintings find their inspiration source from his frequent trips to the original J. Paul Getty Museum and from trips to Japan and Alaska. Further afield, his photographic practice of digitally manipulating NASA photographs of planets and other natural celestial phenomena into Polaroid prints, and then altering them by hand with metallic paints and gold and metal leaf, earned him considerable notice and demonstrates him to be a revelatory colorist. Raphael was selected in 1996 as among the 50 best examples of Polaroid photographers included in Polaroid 50: Art and Technology, an international touring exhibition commemorating the company's fiftieth anniversary.