RAFAEL PARRATORO

// Op Art;
// Augmented Reality Art;
// Virtual Reality;
// XR;

Rafael Parratoro aka PARRATORO (1977, Caracas, Venezuela) is a visual artist specialized in kinetics and optical art. A pioneer in artistic creation with augmented reality and 3D technology, he develops works in both digital and physical formats. He currently resides in Buenos Aires, the city in which he became an Argentine national and where he developed most of his artistic career.

With training in hydraulic engineering at the Central University of Venezuela, he uses computer and mathematical tools to develop his artistic research. His interest in art and technology motivated him to train in different parts of the world. He attended Pictoplasma Academy in Berlin, studied UI / UX Design at the California Institute of the Arts and attended SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) two years in a row in Los Angeles. After completing a master's degree in computer graphics, he worked as a 3D art developer for the video game industry and there he began to develop his artistic career.

His body of work addresses the challenges and possibilities that new technologies offer us at the service of art.

He participated in various exhibitions in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, the United States, Germany, China and Italy. Among the collective exhibitions, the following stand out: PREMIUM (Art Basel Miami Season 2015), NEI LUOGHI DELLA BELLEZZA (Cittá di Noto, Santa Caterina. Italy, 2016), NFT Art Week, Beijing, China, 2021, “Sonata de Cruces Posibles” , FOLA, Buenos Aires, 2021, LABITCONF, Buenos Aires, 2022.

Regarding individual exhibitions, it is worth highlighting: MOIRÉPH (Solo Exhibition). Borges Cultural Center - Tres Pinos Foundation. Curated by Massimo Scaringella. Buenos Aires, Argentina. 2015. 1ESA1 LIVING Library. Santiago de Chile. Curated by Macarena Cacciuttolo.Tres Punto Cero, Cott Gallery, Buenos Aires, 2022. Renault NFTs, Usina del Arte, Buenos Aires, 2022

In 2017 he intervened the Obelisk of Buenos Aires with mapping; he developed the "Kinetic Watch" for Dedegumo in Japan; he made the facade of Landmark Unicenter and made an intervention with augmented reality at the Lollapalooza Festival 2022.

In 2014 Parra Toro published the animated book in real time Pop On Op, which was distributed in more than 30 countries. In his book he presents 55 designs of his own made with moiré. This technique produces an effect, in which to an interference pattern of similar lines, new non-existent "lines" are generated. This is generally considered an error in graphic design, print and video, because it generates random and uncontrollable visual “noise”. His proposal is precisely to "control" this erroneous effect.

The moiré effect is a resource that the artist uses throughout his work to develop a “neocineticism” since he captures it in both physical (acrylic works) and digital media (augmented reality works and NFTs) that he exhibits in marketplaces. , digital exhibitions or the metaverse.

When investigating the use of new media, he analyzes both the benefits and the disadvantages that this implies, and considers that in the future most of the automatic tasks will be carried out by robots. the only thing they can never do is create. creativity is the only thing that justifies our existence as a species. Which is why he believes that the future is in art.

Parratoro is currently one of the main exponents of optical art.