Rafael Landea

Blink of an Eye

Blink of an eye is a work in progress, and in a certain way a very personal experiment.
After seeing “The White Ribbon”, a movie written and directed by Michael Haneke, one scene came back to my mind several times.  I started drawing that scene by memory, closing my eyes and trying to see the imprint that it left in my mind.  I drew and painted it several times, searching deep not only in the visual memory but looking for clues on what was that scene telling me.
In the scene there is a young man that found his father dead, hanged, in the barn of their house. He opens the door, sees his father, and without enter to the room, walks away slowly heading to the house.  He stops to see his sisters playing and laughing and enters to the house. He is in the kitchen while his mother is cooking, silent. First he stays by the door. Then he sits at the foot of some stairs and stays there; still, without talking. His mother doesn’t notice him. This moment lingers for a long, long time. What is this character really doing? Perhaps he was trying to keep the world, as he and the rest of his family knew it until that moment, alive a little longer?
I see the internalized tension as powerful as something that will break their world forever.

the white ribbon (fragment)

Das Weiße Band (The White Ribbon), Michael Haneke

#3 blink of an eye
#2 blink of an eye
#1 blink of an eye
blink of an eye
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Rafael Landea

Rafael Landea Artista Visual

A visual artist, Rafael Landea creates paintings and drawings in both traditional and digital media. His artistic style was greatly influenced by an early job as a theater stage designer resulting in artistic interpretations which are deeply narrative and inspired by historical facts, literature, theater, films, music and architecture.
His work has been recognized by institutions such as the San Francisco Arts Commission, Artery Project and Center for Cultural Innovation, plus was featured at Our Radar by Creative Capital New York.

He has shown his paintings at venues worldwide, including:

  • San Francisco, California: The Exploratorium, Grace Cathedral Gallery, Gensler Design.
  • Buenos Aires: Holocaust Museum, Malvinas Museum, Art and Memory Museum and Centro Cultural Haroldo Conti.
  • Participated in collective exhibitions in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Cuba.

Rafael’s murals can be seen today in Buenos Aires, La Plata and San Francisco. He was lead artistic collaborator on Munú Actis Goretta’s mosaic murals near Turin and in Genoa, Italy.

Rafael has developed illustrations media and publishers in Argentina including Anfibia, Malisia, EME Ediciones B and Universities.

Rafael received his MFA at La Plata University, Argentina and developed his professional career between Buenos Aires and San Francisco. Rafael moved to Catalonia, Spain in 2024

He is developing a digital series inspired by the lives of two Native American men from opposite regions in north and south America, whose stories and destinies present surprising similarities.

[email protected]
@rafael.landea