Rafael was born in 1947 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.A. he studied in Canada, the United States and Venezuela. His career dates from an early age. He studied drawing and painting at the Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela, winning his first award with the prize of "National Youth Painting" in 1963. Upon completing his basic studies in Venezuela and Canada, won the J. Walter Thompson International scholarship to study at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, Canada, where he graduated with honors in "Pure Art" and "Communication and Design.

In 1981 won a Post-graduate scholarship in "Fine Arts" and "Monumental Technology at the University of New York, USA.

During his career Rafael has won  several national and international awards: "The Prize of Sculpture," Ernesto Avellan Hall, The McLean Foundation Scholarship, highest award offered by the Ontario College of Art, Canada; "Honor of the Honorable Deputy Provincial de la Frontera," the sculpture Monumental Third Horizonte, "in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America, Palos de la Frontera, Huelva, Spain;" Second Prize, Biennale of Visual Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art Sofia Imber, Caracas, Venezuela; "Award Canaima, "First Biennial of Sculpture, Museum of Contemporary Art, Francisco Narvaez, Margarita Island, Venezuela;" Artist of Año'95 "Etiqueta, Caracas, Venezuela;" Honor the Mayor of Carupano, Edo. Sucre, Venezuela.

In his career as an artist Rafael Barrios has performed work as an Art Director for UNESCO. Also worked as an art consultant for film maker creciones in “Latin Touch" Movie; Sets Director for Chris Von Wangenheim in Vogue and Esquire magazines in New York, USA; Professor of "Tridimensional and Advertising designs," Neumann Foundation Design Institute, Caracas, Venezuela; Sets Director, for the presentation of "Dance Today" at Expo-Sevilla, Spain; Set-Director, Fashion Designer Herve Leger, "Carrouselle du Louvre," Paris, France.

Many of his works are in public displace  such as Murals in the Polar Foundation, Caracas, Venezuela; Arts and Industry, New York, USA, President of the Coca-Cola International, New York, USA; Monumental Sculpture at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sofia Imber, Caracas, Venezuela; Presidency Consolidated Bank (now Bank Corp), Caracas Venezuela,  Seguros Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela Procter & Gamble, Caracas, Venezuela.

Rafael Barrios has had numerous, individual and collective  showings  in United States, Europe, South America, in other Latin American countries and in countries of the Middle East. Her work is displacing in permanent collections such as the Art Gallery of Ontario and Carmmen Lammana Foundation in Toronto, Canada;

National Art Gallery, Caracas, Venezuela; Museum of Contemporary Art Sofia Imber, Caracas, Venezuela, and in private collections such as the King Don Juan de Borbon, Spain, Princess Gloria von Thurrell Untaxis, Germany.

In 1973 the renowned futurist Marshall McLuhan expressed in a lecture at the University of Toronto, "Rafael Barrios’ work is fresh fruit for thought." Rafael Barrios plays with shapes altering the laws of geometry and creating volumes in space. His sculptures are characterized by breaking with the orthodox directionality, accessing new possibilities for perception.

The dizzying rise of virtual works themselves seems to rise about defying the laws of space, alleviating the body’s expose to gravity. Rafael Barrios’ works are identified by their dynamics, by their lightness; by force and by the magnetism that prints with the intention that each of them comes to mind.