In the house of José Carlos, Rafart, I immediately recalled the French writer, Honoré de Balzac, who contended that a house, the items there found, their arrangement as a whole are sufficient elements to explain what kind of person is residing in the house and viceversa.

IN the house of José Carlos Rafart, everything is elegance, good taste and distinction. A majestic Art Noveau lamp illuminates all the site where a variety of plants, stainless glass and paintings of great Cuban painters, delicate marble sculptures, silver items of several forms highlight the place. In a small room, Rafart has set up his workshop. It is there in absolute seclusion and under the rigor of the artists’ discipline where the artist gives his soul and body to the creation work, it is in this site where the magic of some hands shapes the metal and turns it into the most original figures.

The Birth of An Artist Of Catalonian blood from his ancestors, "Pepe" Rafart is a genuine Cuban, born in Havana, on March 20, 1946. He studied sculpture in San Alejandro Academy in the very city of Havana. According to the artist, his mother’s influence was decisive. A large part of his childhood was spent in Barcelona; open and communicative are the two characteristics that mark his personality: hard work and discipline. In 1966, Pope Jean Paul II received from the President of the Cuban State, Commander Fidel Castro his work titled «Nautilius», also named by others «The Birth of the World».

The Secret Key Perhaps the secret key of creation exercised by José Carlos Rafart is spontaneity; this way of working without a plan nor previous projects. He is the artist that adds metals, especially silver, semi-precious stones, wood, ivory, materials from the sea in a singular creative process in which vegetation and animals are his favorite motifs of inspiration and where he experiments with materials as tagua, also known as ivory nut or vegetal ivory. Among the jewelry articles are articulated necklaces with cast pieces and rings with astrological motifs that go beyond their ornamental function to be installed in the category of what is artistic. The work of the artist highlights the grandeur of what is little. Many of the forms of these singular sculptures are subject to infinite interpretations or symbolic representations. Thus the harmonic integration of different elements in a given work that in essence may resemble an exotic bird, an insect or a marine shell are being shaped in new dimensions and even extra-temporal and allusive connotations to the world of science fiction.

En 1962 realiza sus primeras exposiciones personal en La Habana y desde 1972 ha participado en múltiples exposiciones en otros países. Había obtenido ya algunas distinciones, cuando en 1986 recibe el Primer Premio en la Cuatrienal de Artes Aplicadas de Erfurt, Alemania. En 1988 es galardonado en Cuba con la distinción por la Cultura Nacional. Recibe en México, en 1992, el Primer Premio en Escultura durante un Concurso de Platería. Su pieza Albatros I fue objeto de subasta de Arte Latinomaricano, en la Casa Sotheby’s. Actualmente es miembro de la Asociación Internacional de Artistas Plásticos (AIAP) y Miembro de la Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC).

His first personal exhibitions were held in Havana in 1962, and from 1972 in different countries. He has been already granted some distinctions when in 1986 he received the First Great Prize of Quadrennial of Plastic Arts of Erfurt, Germany. In 1988 he was awarded in Cuba with the distinction for the National Culture. He received in Mexico in 1992, the First Prize in Sculpture during a Silver Work Contest. His piece Albatros I (with his signature), made in silver and agate was the object submitted at a Latin-American Art auction at the Sotheby’s House. He is currently a member of the International Association of Plastic Arts (AIAP) and a member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).