Raphael Appignanesi’s artwork is symbolistic, working with his surrounding environment and themes of Christianity and mythology. He is concerned with the physical development and refinement of his monochrome mark-making to work synergistically with his inner visions and personal aesthetic, as well as exploring the interplay between light and dark.
Raphael graduated with a First-Class Honours BA in Illustration from Sir John Cass LMU in 2013 and in 2018 he gained an MA in Printmaking from the Royal College of Art. In 2021 he was awarded the title of ARE from The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers.
He has exhibited in variety of solo and mixed shows including Lost in Europe at the Open Space Gallery Vienna, LOPF and RA Summer exhibitions. He has shown regularly at the Bankside Gallery with The RE where he has been awarded the ELP prize, Anthony Dawson RE Young Printmaker Award, Canns Down Press Prize and RE Gwen May Recent Graduate prize. He has work held by the British Library.
The work submitted includes four relief etchings which is a method Raphael has been developing for over two years. During the pandemic he began a series of monoprints such as Babel and Pool of Bethesda as a response to the surrounding chaos. The drypoint engraved script in Babel replicates the thunderclap in James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake which is composed of many languages and like the story of Babel proclaims the collapse and fall of man, while in contrast the waters heal the sick at Bethesda.