Raphael Perez hebrew name Rafi Peretz Israeli painter A project of 17 portraits of activists from the gay community in Israel, the works were painted in 2005-2003 The drawings are in a hyper-realistic style of activists and activities from the gay community in Israel, of course there are other iconic figures that I did not draw so I apologize in advance to them, the activists are from the political, cultural and nightlife fields who contributed to the gay community during the 80's and 90's of the twentieth century. Professor Uzi Even - Professor of Chemistry. The first homosexual MK in Israel, contributed to the promotion of LGBT rights in the workplace, adoption of children, gay marriage. Theo Mintz - one of the founders of the Gay Lesbian and Transgender Association in Israel. Ran Kotzer - film director. TV show producer, documentary maker of the films: Cause of Death Homophobia, Gay Games and a documentary on Amos Gutman. Tal Eitan - fashion and advertising photographer, exhibition curator and nightlife man. Avi Sofer - jeweler and glass maker, former chairman of the LGBT Association. Chai Ben Shoshan lives - a man of the night life and was chosen for the Israel Man of the Year competition. Itai Pankas - former chairman of the LGBT Association, one of the founders of the gay center, branches of the association in the periphery, and a former activist in municipal politics who greatly promoted the rights of the community in Tel Aviv. Irit Rabinowitz - Israeli painter, born in Beer Sheva. Michal Eden - lawyer and the first gay politician in Israel. Active in KLF - a feminist lesbian community, promoting the issue of surrogacy, proud parenthood, LGBT rights, the establishment of Beit Dror - a daycare center for boys and girls from the community who were thrown out of their families. Yuval Hatz - event producer and triathlon athlete and promotes sports in the gay community. Alon Strykovski - former chairman of the LGBT Association. Zvi Mermelstein - a homosexual poet, the author of the masterful book "Suiting Upper and Lower Openings". Shaz - Israeli poet and writer. Eli Sharon - IDF officer with the rank of the first proud colonel. In the past he was involved in promoting gay tourism and having a couple therapist. Rami Hasman - Advertiser and one of the leaders of the fight for carrier rights and the promotion of information about AIDS in Israel. Aitzik Yoshua - journalist and former chairman of the LGBT Association. Gadi Sasson - Journalist, writer and editor of the Pink Time magazine. The process of working on the series of portrait paintings was through a meeting at the activists' homes, I photographed them and then I worked with the technique of photorealism on these paintings (like the famous painter Chuck Close) I started with a very careful drawing on a white canvas - I did the drawing with a projector Slides when the photograph is projected onto the white canvas and then a kind of map is created that gives the contours and tonalities of the color from light to dark, after I finished the drawing then I chose the color palette that I want to use to create the portraits, as a painter I almost touch all types of techniques: From painting in the style of photorealism, many paintings and drawings were made from observing objects, still life, flowers, figures or from freely observing any kind of photography... and of course many paintings were made freely from the imagination, so technically I allow myself to use a huge selection of most painting techniques , also with the many years of experience I have experimented with all mediums from pencil drawings, markers, markers, ink, oil paints, acrylic paints, watercolors, gouache paints, works on paper and canvas fabrics, works on wooden plywood, works on books, I was surprised to see that most of the activists, regardless of their activities for the gay community, are dominant figures in the life of Israeli society, most of them officers in the IDF (as opposed to the image that gays have as if they are not suitable for the army) with professions that contribute greatly to the development of Israeli society on an economic, cultural and social level. Most of them are in a high economic situation and from the elite of Israeli society, I painted them in their natural environment, in the beautiful and well-kept houses and some of them are just a portrait without a background. My goal was actually to show the bourgeois side of the community, through the painting of the conservative realist style, through the portrait against the background of the interior of the well-kept house in which they live, and choosing activists of all ages (as opposed to the many representations given to gays who are shown infrequently or marginally, or excessive preoccupation with the culture of body worship , the beauty and youth as is often shown in the gay community. I also have quite a few such works... In the series of portraits, I wanted to emphasize the occupation and contribution to the community. This project was featured on the pages of the Pink Time magazine for months, with the resume description of each and every activist. In 2009 on the day of the Pride Parade, (a mass event with hundreds of thousands of people) Avi Sofer curated the exhibition dedicated to this project of the activists' paintings in the gay center. A large and significant part of these works were purchased by the collector Amos Shokan who purchased hundreds of my works. These paintings continue to receive great exposure on the Internet following the many publications given over the years to this special project. For me it was a way to give back to the gay community for the many years that gay community settings such as businesses, cafes, magazines, gay centers presented my works, supported me as an artist and members of the community also purchased works of art from me and allowed me to continue creating and working, a complex task in itself for any artist to survive from his art. Over the years my work as an artist has changed and I would characterize it in two main painting styles, one painting style is the realistic painting with which I created the series of paintings of heterosexual couples, gays, lesbians, pregnant women, the series of portraits from the gay community in the style of photorealism, a realistic painting of the partner Assaf Hennigsberg in a realistic style - colorful and the series of paintings of the realistic expressive flower couples, and on the other hand there is the other style which is the naive painting with which I mainly painted the urban landscape of cities in Israel and in the world, a kind of idealization of reality and the street paintings full of vegetation, colorful buildings and the use of bright and contrasting colors and a series of naive paintings Under the influence of children's drawings with which I created the series of 40 artist books and other drawings that are influenced by children's drawings... An interview about the homosexual work of the Israeli painter Raphael Perez in Hebrew Rafi Peretz Question: Tell me briefly about yourself Answer: I was born into a traditional family in Jerusalem, we are 7 brothers and sisters, 5 sons and two daughters, I have a twin brother, I was born in 1965 in Jerusalem Question: When did you know about your homosexual sexual identity? Answer: Like any young boy from the age of 10, while the boys were enthusiastic about being the queen of the class, I thought about the boys, Question: Raphael Perez How is homosexuality reflected in your work Answer: From the age of 17 to the age of 32, I kept personal diaries that over the years became visual artist books. I wrote texts about my sexual indecision as a teenager, and then throughout my twenties I struggled with the desire to realize a relationship with a man and I was with women until the age of 32. During this time, the diaries became more visual and I drew on The text that I reveal to hide my sexuality mainly from myself... Question: Have you created oil and acrylic paintings on the subject of heterosexual relationships and partnerships Answer: Yes, until the age of 33. 1998 In addition to the notebooks and diaries, I also created a series of large oil paintings and drawings of couples of a man and a woman, the idea of these series being an attempt to find the connection to a relationship with women, but it did not work, in the paintings of the heterosexual couples, the result was always a sad one, in which the man does not surrender For a relationship, this is not his natural place, Question: Raphael Perez How was the transition to creating paintings of couples from the gay community? Starting in 1998 I created a series of men's paintings, at first it was very realistic paintings of two lesbian women, or two gay men who are obviously debating their sexuality, in 1999 I had a short first love so I created a series in my opinion the best of what is called "Late Youthful Love" paintings The first to deal with homosexual love, which I experienced for the first time at the age of 34, large, huge pink paintings, which depict a harmonious partnership of two men in their daily activities, in the kitchen, in the living room, in the garden, in the bedroom, celebrating their intimacy. In 2000 I had another partner with whom I was for 4 and a half years and during these years I created many paintings that deal with a mature homosexual relationship, paintings of same-sex families (this is perhaps the only moment in my life because I thought about a proud family) men in the seasons, a series of paintings of soldiers marching, and paintings which I defined as "gays and the good life" an idealization of homosexual life, male couples in the lake, in the pool, with pride flags decorating the streets and houses, I created a series that I called "a proud neighborhood" or "the gay ghetto" Tel Aviv in those years was shaped as a center for the gay community and in certain areas The places of recreation and residence of the members of the community were concentrated, I created a series of hyper-realistic works of portraits of activists from the gay community who lay on the fence in the 80s and especially - 90s and took care of the rights of the LGBT community as they are today, I painted political figures, activists, heads of the LGBT association, artists from the community and people of the Night Soldier, With the end of the marital relationship and my personal transition to celebrating singleness at parties, spending time in Tel Aviv - the city itself occupies a central place in the work, initially in paintings with homosexual characteristics of the city, pride flags in each painting, balloons, kites and umbrellas in the colors of the rainbow. During these years I was in casual relationships with men and I even experienced a kind of openness from the whole homosexual experience that in the past I idealized and moved to the creation of the cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and more when the homosexual motifs disappear and I found myself less conflicted with relationships with women, and today my closest friends are a number of women Limited .. this is of course reflected in the work and in the last 15 years (now 2023) when I am 58 years old I mainly create paintings of urban landscapes with couples of a man and a woman Question: Raphael Perez what about love and relationships Answer: Since 2013, I met the love of my life, a stunning young man named Assaf Henigsberg, who is everything I wanted and was looking for in a relationship, we are celebrating 10 years of a happy relationship, at the same time as the heterosexual urban landscape paintings, I created a series of ten personal portraits of my beloved Assaf Henigsberg, today the relationship At the center before creation and before art, we believe in living the real simple, modest life and not living in fantasies...