Faculty Name:Rafael Domenech, MFA

Rafael Domenech’s work grows out of lived experiences of migration and the ongoing negotiation of presence. Leaving Cuba without the possibility of return shaped a way of thinking in which making art becomes a means of locating oneself of considering how place, displacement, and the circumstances of arrival influence identity and belonging. This line of inquiry runs through his practice, informing an interest in how spatial and cultural systems shape subjectivity.

Professor Domenech is a New York–based visual artist working across site‑specific installations, pavilions, artist books, texts, sculptures, and public programs. His practice draws from architecture and publishing, focusing on their role in framing how space is occupied and how communities and social relations take form. Through immersive environments, spatial publications, and print‑based works, he explores the tensions between art, design, and the built environment, grounding these investigations in experiences of migration, adaptation, and shared histories.

Collaboration is central to Professor Domenech’s approach. He regularly organizes workshops, public programs, and collective projects, treating exhibitions as spaces for exchange and collective making rather than fixed presentations. By reworking urban vernaculars and questioning established disciplinary formats, his work invites viewers to consider their own position within shifting social and cultural contexts, using art as a way to shape space, encourage dialogue, and support cultural resilience.

Recent exhibitions include: the 58th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; The Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond; Passerelle centre d’art contemporain, Brest, France; Museum of Art and Design (MOAD), Miami. His work has been exhibited at SculptureCenter, New York; Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City; LIST Center, MIT, Cambridge; The Bass Museum, Miami Beach; Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York; Phillip and Patricia Frost Art Museum, Miami; and Bronx Museum of the Arts, among others.

Visit rafaeldomenech.net.

Areas of Interest

• Experimental Media
• Digital Media
• Printmaking
• Publishing
• Installation Art
• Graphic Design
• Public Art
• Art Criticism