Joseph Rafferty speaks in abstraction. His aesthetic decisions are most always unpredictable, making deep and thoughtful strides to push away from familiar material. Joseph tends to leap into a curious psychological space that draws his audience in, as opposed to keeping them at bay with an uncomfortable dissonance. The alter-ego that plays out in his work is benevolent and neutralized, stripping away the ominous overtones that an artist can oftentimes fall prey to, thus rendering a wonderfully ambiguous bodies of work. The use of his body is both overt and covert; discreet and private; demonstrative and quiet.
There is a bittersweet irony to Rafferty’s work and a method that finds its ground in the mechanics of the physical. He has created his studio into a kind of laboratory for himself that is critical for his work to become activated. I’m often reminded of Dieter Roth’s Fluxus sensibilities, finding the process of experimental play and physical connection to be meaningful strategies that drive the work.
—Jean Marie Casbarian (artist and educator)