”I have received something from all of them,” says Rafael Wardi. “Looking at Bonnard, Morandi, and now lately at Kokoschka, it is as if I come closer to myself. I learn better to know who I am.”
This is how art works. This is what happens to us, too. When Rafael Wardi paints a tree, flower, landscape or children drawing, he is in fact painting a picture of what is best in us, of what is most compassionate, warmest, most vulnerable. We recognize ourselves and the possibility of encountering beauty, and therefore we want to see these paintings, for they make us feel good.
Rafael Wardi has never been a naturalist or realist. He always seen deeper, into a possible and hoped-for reality, believing in it himself, and being able to show it to us as well.
A positive attitude and optimism are characteristic of Wardi both as an artist and a man. He wants to find the bright side of everything, and goes on to find it. In Wardi’s paintings, beauty is, goodness is, light is.
Rafael Wardi turned 80 last summer. But he does not believe in the truth of age, and instead says:
“A dog cannot be of any age, for dogs do not feel age, nor do butterflies. It’s bad that we’re taught that we have age – do they want us to be aware of the passing of time and the fact that we become worn and that we leave?”
In his latest paintings at Galerie Anhava Wardi speaks of the same important matters as before, only more deeply.
Ilona Anhava
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