FOREWORD BY LOUIS MEISEL
working with the female nude in learning that discipline. His ‘daytime job’ as a fashion photographer has enabled him to see and utilise this universally loved aspect and subject matter in new ways in most of his fine art paintings. The paintings! Yes, they are paintings. They are infused with abstract gestures, Pop quotations, even a touch of graffiti. His work is aggressively colourful, and includes still life, landscape and of course the figurative elements. The artist is informed and able to advance on all aspects of realism in art. The nude imagery is always sexy but chaste, a quality which made the pin-ups of the 30’s - 70’s so acceptable and appealing. Raphael is extremely inventive in the inclusion, placement and statements created by the juxtaposition of these wonderful nudes within the context of each painting. The result is always engaging and asks for attention and will not let one pass casually. Turning the pages in this volume will be slower as each image demands more than a passing glance. In order to be more leftist, socialist, politically correct and multi-cultural – according to some influential writers – artists have been taught, and we have been told, that ‘beauty’ and ‘quality’ are words to be abandoned in the art and other cultural areas. Why? Because so few can achieve what those words are about and we want everyone to have a chance to be an artist, musician or writer. It is said that to be a significant ‘artist’ one must be able to simply express themselves and draw attention to misery, suffering, prejudice and all that bothers them. Quality, skills, discipline and knowledge need not apply. Well, it just doesn’t work. I say they should do all that on their psychiatrists’ couches. What we need to inspire us as viewers, listeners and readers are more artists such as a Raphael Mazzucco! An artist who unabashedly paints, photographs and portrays all aspects of beauty, be it the nude, the sunset, the sea or the clouds. No ugliness, no political statements, no depictions of misery. Goya did that long ago. Picasso made the Guernica. There was a time and place and reason. The world now is filled with misery, suffering, violence, hatred, war and general unhappiness. Artists should be going against the prevalent mantra of showing all that. Artists should be giving a look at hope, beauty and happiness. That will be more helpful for mankind. Raphael Mazzucco is doing that and hopefully is the forefront of many artists who will realise this as a mission.
I have been collecting for 67 years, since 1947 when I was 5 years old! Not baseball cards or comic books...well, maybe some, but also Tiffany glass and scuttle shaving cups, a family pursuit. Anyway, 50 years ago I acquired my first Abstract Expressionist painting and shortly thereafter my first Pop art. By 1969 I had coined the word ‘photorealism’ and began building the best works on paper collection of the genre not to mention the major collection of paintings. I represent most of the photorealists. In the early 70’s I began paying attention to American illustration and focused on what I called in my 1996 book “The Great American Pin-up” and created the best collection of original art of that genre, and am the primary gallery for this work. My collections include over 1,000 photographs and are heavy on Jock Sturges whom I represent. All told, my wife Susan and I have over 100 collections and very few are duplicated or similar to what any others collect. Our challenge is finding a category which catches our attention and is, and has been, overlooked by others, and then to create the best collection, learn all there is about the category, and then exhibit and publish it. The past 20 years have been frustrating as far as the art world is concerned. We have not found very much that interests us. When an art magazine lists ‘The 100 top collectors’ or something like that, 80% will have all the same items. Why? Because very few today are acquiring art because they like what it looks like. Of course, that is why art was collected for most of human history, but not now! Now it is about investment, status and finding art that speaks to us and connects with our aesthetics. All of the above personal history is relevant to where I am going with this commentary. After years of frustration, of wanting to continue doing what we do, we discovered an artist whose work has been inspired by and influenced by so much of what has interested us for so long. Raphael Mazzucco is as innovative in what I feel is real art as any artist I have seen in decades. While utilising painting, drawing, photography, collage and all the other traditional tools and materials artists have invented and worked with throughout history, he is making new, interesting, innovative and, most important to me, if not to the so-called art establishment, beautiful objects to behold. His imagery strongly involves the female figure, as has been true of a preponderance of artists, at least in their figure drawings. Most artists over the centuries have relied on
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