Rafael Gluckstern

Rafael Gluckstern

Born in 1984 in Netanya, Israel. In 1987 his family moved to Alicante (Spain) where he spent his infancy and adolescent years.
He started to show his drawing ability from an early age. Consequently, as a result of his interest in drawing and painting, he started to paint in oils for the first time in 1995, he was 11 years old.
Rafael went on to study Fine Art at different universities in Spain due to a desire to know new places and people and to experience new things that would enrich him as a person and as an artist. He got his degree in Fine Art at the University of Barcelona.
During his years as a student and afterwards, he took part in various art shows where a large number of his works were awarded prizes. Amongst them was a painting called “La Guardería” at the “14th Exhibition of Alicante Artists” in 1997, where he was the youngest artist to have ever won this contest. He also took part in various collective and individual exhibitions, especially at art galleries run by the Alicante regional government and the local council.
In 2010, after having spent a year in Madrid, painting and selling his work in a studio in the neighborhood of Lavapies, he decided to leave Spain in order to carry on exploring and gaining new experiences. For this reason he moved to Miami at the end of that year. There he came across an art gallery called “Artopia” where he work and exhibited his paintings. In Miami he also painted a large mural called “Buffalo Tiger”. As a result of the success and interest shown in this wallpainting he has been appointed to make more murals on various buildings in the area.
After a year in Miami he decided to return briefly to Spain. Then in March 2012 he moved to Berlin where he kept painting and showing his works at different venues.
In 2015, Rafael decided to return to America. This time his destiny was NYC, where he decided to finally settle. In 2015 he participated in his first group exhibition in Manhattan, and after several group exhibitions, he made his first solo exhibition in NYC in 2017, named “Narrow Streets and Landscapes”. He also painted a big mural in one of the rooms at the Carlton Arms Hotel.
Throughout 2017, Rafael had the opportunity to exhibit his work in several areas and neighborhoods of NYC, like Midtown, Chelsea or Financial District.