About the Artists / Ralph Papa

 About the Artist:  

Born and raised in New York City's East Harlem, I’ve been fascinated with drawing and painting since early childhood. Primarily self-taught with a natural talent and passion for art. Later in my twenties, I studied art and architecture in New York at Queens College and CCNY and painted evenings during the mid 1960s at the Art Students League. 

My works range from studio paintings using real and imagined themes, to figurative, portraits and plein air painting. Beginning in the early 1980's, I began regularly painting on-location in the Hudson Valley and Long Island Hamptons and later in Southeast Florida. Beginning in 2003, I’ve been teaching drawing and painting and plein air workshops throughout Palm Beach County. I’m an art activist, passionate about art and Co-Founder of Plein Air Palm Beach and a Signature Member and Past President of the Artists Guild of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. Papa also has painted in France and Italy and has been instrumental in  Boynton Beach becoming a “Sister Cities” with Farindola in the Abruzzo Region of Italy.  Papa’s artworks are in public and private collections in the US, Canada and Europe and can be viewed at Papagallery Artists Association in Boca Raton, The Neighborhood Gallery in Boynton Beach and on his website at www.ralphpapa.com"

Artist’s Statement:         

As an artist painting in my studio or out in plein air, I’m more fascinated with the actual process of creating an artwork finding it energizing and even more fulfilling than arriving  at the end product of the finished work. As an art instructor, I believe a fine visual artist must first learn to see accurately, then be able to reproduce images accurately with minimum effort. Gaining understanding and proficiency with practice, artists can become one with their art, mastering the  three  major categories of visual art; color, perspective and anatomy. With those skills, artists thave the best chance of success when they are true to who they are, creating artwork based on their personal experience and unique perspective on life.