Interview by Jimon

1-One word to describe Rafael Domenech?  Strategy.

2-You were raised in Cuba and moved to United States in 2010, how did this transformation changed you as an artist?  I believe I time traveled. When you have to leave your home country without the possibility of returning, it is like being born again. Not only because you have to learn a new language, a new culture, and adapt to a new weather, but because you have to learn to take distance from your previous life to metabolize the new one. It is all about balance of when to bring back the old and new life together to create the perfect amalgamation. I have learned to take distance. And the distance allows me to see connections, possibilities and to produce creative decisions at macro and micro levels.

3-What school did you attend and do you think it was necessary?  Every school I have attended has played an important role in my personal and professional development. Thinking back, I would not remove any of them out of the equation. I went to preschool, middle school, high school and early college in Cuba. Each one laid a foundation for the next. Surviving the precarious conditions of the Cuba’s educational system taught me to observe and become strategic about how to navigate every space. Between 2005 and 2009 I attended to National Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro, the school was located about 5-6 miles away from my house. The limited public transportation pushed me to walk that distance every other day, as a result, I was exposed to parts of Havana I would have not visited otherwise.

In 2011, I started at New World School of the Arts in Miami. It was a new experience as the system was completely different from any I have been exposed before. It was a time to experiment, push and understand the new context I was living in. I have recently graduated from Columbia University MFA program. The past two years have been essential to grow and solidify intellectually through the exposure to people and subjects that I am interested in, such as architecture, anthropology and design.

4-Considering all your achievements which are you most proud of?  It might sound strange but it is to leave Cuba. At the time, I really did not see beyond the next day, the precarious social conditions of the country and my economical position did not allow for that. For me, there was no future plan.

5-How do you describe success as an artist?  Success is a fluctuating concept, to me success for an artist is that I get to create and develop relationships that usually extend outside the art-world. Relationships that challenge and nurture me everyday.

6-Have you ever come across a piece of art that you could not stop looking at?  Yes, many. It happens often. It recently happened when I saw a small exhibition of Bruno Munari. There was a small mobile piece hanging in the show, it captivated me. The simple construction of the object was being weighted down by a rock. I thought it was a very intelligent, poetic and an inventive solution for its time.

7-What advice would you give putative collectors?  Collectors have various reasons for why they collect, they all have different approaches to how they decide on what to acquire. My advice is not to follow the market’s trends; to me collecting means to have temporary guardianship of the works of art in their possession. They should collect what speaks to them, and will constantly challenge them.

8-Best advice you ever received in regards to your career as an artist?  I fondly remember one of my mother’s advice. Very early on she told me; we are born naked and with an empty brain, if we die naked is our own decision. The best advice I have received related to my artistic practice was to be in the studio and make work. Everything else is circumstantial and partially uncontrollable. The important is to be ready for when an opportunity comes along. Those two advices are always hand to hand.

9-Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration?  A place I always go back to is Hialeah, a town in Miami that is culturally rich, architectural complex, and convulsive in nature. Trying to understand the cultural and social overlapping and production of Hialeah in relationship to Miami as a whole fascinates me. My wife is that person, she has always been supportive of what I do, from the simplest to the craziest plan. I don’t hold on to things very often, it is a result of geographical dislocation. But, my wife and I want to leave a library at the end; one of the most important things for me is our book collection.

10-If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?  Dieter Roth, Bruno Munari, and Helio Oiticica.

11-Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?  Music, books, and coffee.

12-How would someone find you on social media?  I am only on Instagram (r_domenech). I think it is an interesting platform, specially for its archival properties.

13-Any upcoming project we should look forward to?  Currently, I am working on several projects that are opening soon. I have a solo project at Socrates Sculpture Park in New York titled “Las Palabras son Muros (pavilion for Astoria”). The project will open to the public July 12th. Also, I am curating the summer exhibition for Fredric Snitzer Gallery in Miami which opens June 28th, and I am part of an artist’s book exhibition at the Frost Museum in Miami curated by Amy Galpin.