Spotlight Artist

Rafael E. Vera

Midwest
Artist profile photo
Featured in New American Paintings

Artist Statement

Borders, contradictory in nature, simultaneously reveal and conceal; they both define and collapse the identity and purpose of a space.

My work explores the elusive aspects of a structure that, despite its familiarity, remains unknowable. I investigate this struggle in the ambiguous and unresolved limbo of the home. Incomplete structures, formally and conceptually, create in-between spaces where the void and the defining line interact and coexist. They are compromised. They are unsettled. They are points of departure and arrival, overlapping one another and striving for identity.

Foundations, for a home, seem a little obscene. Rarely exposed, they are blind cavities, elegant and purposeless, like organs separated from a body. They signify potential and yet they appear still. They are voids, suspended in time, defying resolution, detached from their function of supporting a structure.

Artist's Additional works

Works shared by the artist outside of their featured New American Paintings selections

Featured artwork
Featured artwork

Discover more artists from the Midwest

THE MAGAZINE

Explore our magazine to discover exceptional artists

Open magazine with text, modern illustrations, and a list of artists on a pink background.
View issues

Call for Artists

Submit your work for consideration

New American Paintings is a juried exhibition-in-print and digital, presenting the work of 40 emerging artists in each issue.

View competitions

Your gateway to new art

Discover tomorrow's art stars, today

Two books on a wooden table with a modern decorative sculpture in the background.

PRINT + EARLY ACCESS DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION

$179/YEAR

DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION

$99/YEAR OR $10/MONTH

Each issue of New American Paintings features forty artists selected through our juried competitions—presented in a beautifully curated, full-color publication. Subscribers receive six issues per year, plus exclusive online access to current and past editions. Are you a collector? Consider our premium subscription and receive our museum-quality printed publication + access to each new digital issue two weeks before its general release.