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Raphael Truffi Bortholuzzi

Raphael is, above all, a storyteller. His stories leave their unique handprints and footprints in conversation and in art, from ideation to completion of each piece. For him, the mastery of his craft is incomplete without the stories that animate it. Raphael’s pieces inspire a new perspective; a promise to uncover the beauty and charm in the mundane and often bleak realities we face daily.

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Season 1 · Miniatures Artist

Raphael Truffi Bortholuzzi

Art was one of Raphael’s first loves. Born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil in the 1980s, he grew alongside the urban art of his city. Though the murals and graffiti were different in those years, the early urban art planted seeds of creativity and imagination in a young Raphael. Soon, he would uncover those seeds and nourish them into a blossoming art career.

Raphael is, above all, a storyteller. His stories leave their unique handprints and footprints in conversation and in art, from ideation to completion of each piece. For him, the mastery of his craft is incomplete without the stories that animate it. Raphael’s pieces inspire a new perspective; a promise to uncover the beauty and charm in the mundane and often bleak realities we face daily.

In Raphael’s late teenage years, he was presented with a unique opportunity to travel to London and live with his mother. Raphael’s half-Italian heritage gave him a window to the world, providing many chances to travel abroad, and expand his own knowledge and skills with a global perspective. Rich cultural cities and sites surrounded Raphael, instilling within him a love for the arts – specifically for visual and graphic design.

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He had spent several years studying in London, where he collected skills from various genres and disciplines like graphic design, website design, cinema, 3D animation, and even visual effects. In those early years, Raphael was like a sponge; he absorbed skills through his job, which he then polished and honed with laser-focus to become part of his multifaceted toolbox. Despite an ever-growing skill set and a burning desire for becoming an artist, Raphael’s career had rocky beginnings as much of his time was spent juggling odd jobs like bartending and serving. He simultaneously worked as an artist, all to be able to pay his bills and feed his passion. Times were tough, but Raphael never stopped growing, learning, and creating. With persistence, Raphael overcame the hardships and continued to write his story. The lessons learned from those tumultuous years inform Raphael’s view as an artist, and its echoes are seen in his art and overall career.

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Raphael Truffi Bortholuzzi

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However, for Raphael, his story has just begun – and his past stories shine through his pieces. Raphael’s iconic miniature collections represent his own microcosm: a combination of London and Sao Paulo, of different industries, and the voices of those that inhibit them. Though his miniature works never feature prominent humans or figures, a quick look at any one of them tells a tale open to interpretation. There is excitement in his mini Hollywood sign, heartbreak in his Abandoned ‘65 Porsche replica, and a great conversation behind his Fragments of Time Cityscape.

 

Like the Fragments of Time piece, Raphael’s work often features lush, detailed cityscapes inspired by the sights and sounds of his early years in both London and São Paulo. These parcels of his life and lived experiences culminate in pieces that transport viewers across the globe with a simple glance.

 

Creating a miniature piece takes Raphael a few months to over a year, and the process is long, but rewarding. To create a miniature, Raphael begins with the ideation and 3D modeling steps followed by the actual creating, sculpting, and molding steps. However, the storytelling feature of the miniature pieces is what often takes the longest. A true labor of love, Raphael precisely bakes subtle details in the elements of his work to give the viewer the space to write their own stories. According to Raphael, his works tell different stories depending on each viewer’s unique perspective. The story a viewer imagines one day can be vastly different from the story they make tomorrow. What Raphael loves most about his work is that it lies on the pinnacle of connection and collaboration. By injecting much detail into tiny mediums, Raphael expresses love, heartbreak, laughter, despair, and triumph – without saying a single word.

 

“So all my videos, all my photos, everything that you see online is pretty much created by me. I either edit, you know, post-production. I do pretty much everything. I'm a one-man band.” [Asked about how much work goes into his art]

 

“You know, you create your story. So by giving you only the scenery, the elements, the objects, you can create your story about what you see.” [Asked why his work never features humans]

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UNIQUE STORY BEHIND EACH ARTISTWhy Ronin
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