Artwork Description
Raphaelle Goethals – Dust Stories: Liquid Sky VI
Dimensions: 40.63 x 37.63″ size type / 40 x 37″ size type
Year: 2013
Medium: encaustic on birch panel
Raphaelle Goethals is an artist from Belgium who now lives and works in New Mexico. Goethals’ paintings have been featured in numerous museum exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe, including a recent solo exhibition at the Morris Graves Museum. Raphaelle Goethals is one of a group of remarkable women artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Agnes Martin, Agnes Pelton, Susan Rothenberg, Linda Benglis, Florence Pierce, and Judy Chicago—instrumental in creating the world-renowned contemporary art center of Santa Fe.
Raphaelle creates atmospheric paintings, often with a grid of small spaces where the eye can rest. Goethals sees the blue sky as our sea in her beloved New Mexico, often referring to it as a “liquid sky.” “We can thank the sun and the light it creates for the amazing spectrum of color we see everyday with our own eyes. Blue, to me is the most calming of colors and in New Mexico we have countless hues of this intriguing color.”
Raphaelle’s love of the land and sky come forward in this work. As air and light swirl around our everyday lives we forget the complexity and chaos and are calmed by sky’s seductive lure. Blue is associated with depth and stability. It is also beneficial to the mind and body.
-Stephen Buxton
Raphaelle Goethals’ paintings have been featured in and are included in permanent collections of numerous museums, including The Grace Museum, The San Jose Museum of Art, The Morris Graves Museum of Art, New Mexico State University Museum, and the Daum Museum.