Rafaël Rozendaal

Rafaël Rozendaal (Amsterdam, 1980) lives and works in hotels around the world.
Rafaël Rozendaal can be seen as a new generation painter who doesn't make oil paintings but uses the internet as his canvas. He makes websites as art pieces, pieces are sold with domain name, work remains public, name of collector in title bar and installations with projections.

For Rozendaal the browser window is more interesting than a real window because it has more dimensions than real life. The internet has it’s restrictions , but within those limits there are endless possibilities. Because his work is publicly available on the internet it reaches people worldwide and is the biggest platform available for an artist but it’s also the most intimate. Compared to an exposition in a museum with people around you, you can now enjoy art in the privacy of your own home.

With his websites as well as with his installations and projections Rafaël Rozendaal translates physical objects, sounds and phenomena creating a world where the viewer‘s perception of things are intensified. These environments are not only beautiful but also make the viewer curious about his surroundings.

His pieces often have a clear simplicity. As with painters such as Magritte and Roy Lichtenstein, Rafaël Rozendaal's work shares a love for bright colors and humoristic elements. Then again Rozendaal’s other work, muchbetterthanthis.com that shows cheerful flash animations of kissing couples is like a contemporary interpretation of Henri Mattis large colourfull paper cuttings with the same cheerful simplicity.

About this work:
“A few years ago I received an email: "Hi, I really like your work, do you mind if I get a tattoo of your kissing piece?" I did not take it seriously but I said "sure". few months later the same person emailed me a blurry blackberry picture from India, he really did it! I met him later and now I can be 100% sure someone has my work tattooed on his chest. That is the biggest compliment I've ever had...”