Regis Silva

“Happy Colors, Happy Life” – Mixed Media paintings on canvas stretched on wood panel. Ranging from eleven inches to 135 inches, this collection is composed of a variety of techniques, textures, colors and dimensions. Most of them have three-dimensional features such as breasts, facial features, hats, and parts of their clothing. The depth of each piece varies from 12 to 35 inches. The paintings are built on hard wood structure frames and wrapped in canvas. The materials used to build the 3D parts are recyclable materials, such as newspapers, magazines, bottles, plastics. Wire, metal, staples and nails support the structure of each creation. After the skeleton is mounted, it is covered with canvas and sealed. Fabrics is used to accentuate the details, filling empty spaces with subtle images and colors. Some of them are landscapes like in a dream, some others reflect the good and evil; the simple and ambitious; the pretty and the ugly dichotomies that most human beings live with. In other paintings the artist focused on beauty and serenity-- a feast for the eyes. “Steps to a Surreal Life” -Watercolor on paper This series of watercolor paintings has been interpreted by many viewers as a dream-like scene. The images of people in these paintings reflect duality, the concept of which he used as a theme in a later series. Each watercolor character expresses two distinct emotions; ecstasy and melancholy, joy and shame, bliss and violence. Occasionally one might notice an ironic contrast of melancholy painted with bright colors which are usually associated with peace, happiness and euphoria. Each stroke of the brush accentuates the minute details hidden deep in the cracks of the previous layers, creating an illusion of depth and live texture. The result is surreal scenery where images are neither beautiful nor ugly. The work is done with a rare pigment, and is saturated with extremely vivid colors, making it difficult to immediately recognize as watercolor. Some of his inspiration comes from Salvador Dali, whose surrealism he have always carried a deep appreciation for. The water color images ranging in size from 10 to 30 inches are reminiscent of Brazilian daily life. They capture the discord of happiness and innocence coexisting with violence and anger.

Regis Silva
1977 – Brazil
Painter, sculptor.


Regis Silva was born in 1977 in Paraiso, a town in Central Brazil. Prompted by a dream at the age of 15, he began frequenting Umbanda ceremonies, the imagery of which would later influence his multi-media works. Silva began painting quite spontaneously when, at sixteen, he wandered into an art supply store and purchased a blank canvas and acrylic paints. It was during a brief stint in Monterey, California that his first series of paintings emerged in the form of abstracted jellyfish and other sea creatures. Later, in his home studio in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco, he would integrate found objects, printed matter, trash, and even the fabric scraps evoking memories of his mother's sewing, into his larger-than-life female figures that quite literally pop off the canvas. At once life-affirming, colorful, voluptuous, and dark and menacing, these portraits allude to the dichotomies that exist within each of us. Silva's latest series of orixá sculptures in his characteristic style of simple forms in bold colors reflects his recent research and writing on these Afro-Brazilian deities.

Silva and his work have been featured in such publications as Brazil Explore (Oct., 2004), Comunidade News (Nov, 2004), Brasil California Magazine (Nov, 2004), The Orange County Register (Aug, 2003) and in Brasil Best. His work has been shown at Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Orange County (2003), Blue Room Gallery in San Francisco's Mission District (2004), Pacific Grove Art Center in Pacific Grove, CA (2005) and Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA (2005).

Regis' self-portrait graces the July cover of Brasil Best which also includes a color spread of his mixed media pieces. A feature-length article entitled, “Mixing it Up” can be found in The Monterey County Herald's Go! Section (July 14-20, 2005).

Biography by Jamie Davidson
San Francisco, CA
Copyright, 2005

Mixing it up
By LISA CRAWFORD WATSON
Herald Correspondent

The last time he was assaulted in his native Brazil, the police stood by and did nothing.

Regis Silva vowed to leave. He didn't know how and he didn't know where, but the young artist knew it was time.

And then there was that coupon. The ad at the shopping center read, "Give Las Palmas, Florida to your father for Father's Day." It was 1997.

"I bought a product," said Silva, "and they gave me one coupon. I put this coupon in a container with 25,000 others and, maybe it was destiny; I won the prize. I went to Florida for two weeks, enjoying my prize, and then traveled to other parts of the country for months at a time, including a couple of months in San Francisco."

Silva returned to Brazil on his birthday, Feb. 20, but came back to California, one year later, also on his birthday.

Perhaps it was his present to himself, but it took some time before it felt like a gift.

Although he landed in Monterey, six months later he was back in San Francisco, seeking the elements of city life he had appreciated at home.

Still, it took time to adjust to a new environment, to assimilate to a different culture, to improve his English; time and focus he robbed from his art.

And then something happened to upset and inspire him.

An important and long-time friend, whose beauty and companionship had defined his knowledge of her, showed him an ugly side of herself he had never seen, had never even imagined before.

He took out his paints and other, recycled materials to depict his experience.

"I made a woman," he said, "with giant breasts and a huge face sticking out of the painting. One side of her face was smooth, beautiful, sensual, as I had known my friend. The other side was distorted with clumps of yarn and awkward paint. The ugly side of that person had become as visible as her sweet and beautiful side. I called the painting 'Maria Mulambeira'".

The painting, immediately tapped for an exhibit at the Muckenthaler Culture Center in Orange County, marked the beginning of his new career, his new life in California.

"Today," he said, "I have 15 of those paintings, which have grown from small format to 9-feet wide by 14-feet tall. I am a small guy, only 5-foot-3-inches, so this is more exciting. I really have room to play around with it. And, lately, inspired by all these sculptural paintings, I have started to make a series of sculptures."

Identified as a dynamic mixed media artist, Silva's melting, rounded forms have been likened to Dali, Picasso, Chagall, Miró, comparisons the self-described pop-surrealist is not willing to make himself, as he works from his own experiences, imagination and cultural influences from Brazil.

This weekend, Silva will open "The Beauty and the Trash," a mixed-media exhibit of paintings and sculpture at the Pacific Grove Art Center.

He actually submitted a painting to the center in 1999, which was approved, but he was no longer in town during the exhibition. He intends to include that painting in this show.

"I was amazed to see the size and three-dimensional quality of Silva's work," said Joan Jeffers McCleary, art center office manager. "Much of his work is larger-than-life-size papier maché sculpture. It is absolutely huge, voluptuous, and colorful. Although he is a fairly small man in stature, his work is large and powerful."

Silva actually began painting for his own entertainment when, at 16, bored and uninspired, he wandered into an art store and bought a canvas and some acrylic paints.

His first paintings were purely abstract, increasingly plied with fabric, leaves and other found objects.

"Then a couple of years ago, I think it was 2003," he said, "I found a weekend garage sale in the city. A lady, who had been a fabric designer and was now retired, was selling fabrics from the '70s, '80s and early '90s. I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I had to have it. I bought bags and bags of fabric for $50."

When he was growing up, his mother sewed for the family. His sister had a fabric store. Silva melded the sensibilities of his family and started putting together paintings with the fabric.

"I liked the results," he said, "very much."

In his upcoming show at the P.G. Art Center, Silva will exhibit some 30 paintings, the tallest of which is 124 inches, along with eight sculptures.

He also will host Dandara, a Brazilian singer who does an "amazingly beautiful bossa nova jazz," with saxophone and guitar accompaniment.

Performing in front of one of his expansive paintings, the singer will wear a dramatic and colorful dress with a very long train, designed by Silva.

"Dandara will look like she's emerging from one of my paintings," he said. "She will create the effect that the painting is moving. It's going to be very fun."

Exhibtions coming up

April 2008 - Pacific Grove Art Center - Pacific Grove, CA
October 2007 -San Francisco Open Studio
2007 - Hotel des Arts - San Francisco, CA

Current Exhibitions

Hotel des Arts - San Francisco, CA

Past Exhibitions

Museum of Art and History - MAH
Santa Cruz - CA October - November, 2005

Pajaro Valley Art Center Gallery
Watsonville, CA October - December 2005

Pacific Grove Art Center
Pacific Grove - CA July - August - 2005

Blue Room Gallery
San Francisco - CA December - January - 2004

BCC – Brazil Cultural Center
San Francisco – CA December - January 2003

San Francisco Open Studio
San Francisco – CA September 2003

Muckenthaler Cultural Center
Orange County - CA July - October 2003

San Francisco Open Studio
San Francisco – CA September 2002

Everything is Art gallery
San Francisco – CA October – January 2002

City Art of San Francisco
San Francisco – CA July – August 2001

“Happy Colors, Happy Life”
– Mixed Media paintings on canvas stretched on wood panel.

Ranging from eleven inches to 135 inches, this collection is composed of a variety of techniques, textures, colors and dimensions. Most of them have three-dimensional features such as breasts, facial features, hats, and parts of their clothing. The depth of each piece varies from 12 to 35 inches. The paintings are built on hard wood structure frames and wrapped in canvas. The materials used to build the 3D parts are recyclable materials, such as newspapers, magazines, bottles, plastics. Wire, metal, staples and nails support the structure of each creation. After the skeleton is mounted, it is covered with canvas and sealed. Fabrics is used to accentuate the details, filling empty spaces with subtle images and colors. Some of them are landscapes like in a dream, some others reflect the good and evil; the simple and ambitious; the pretty and the ugly dichotomies that most human beings live with. In other paintings the artist focused on beauty and serenity-- a feast for the eyes.

“Steps to a Surreal Life”
-Watercolor on paper

This series of watercolor paintings has been interpreted by many viewers as a dream-like scene. The images of people in these paintings reflect duality, the concept of which he used as a theme in a later series. Each watercolor character expresses two distinct emotions; ecstasy and melancholy, joy and shame, bliss and violence. Occasionally one might notice an ironic contrast of melancholy painted with bright colors which are usually associated with peace, happiness and euphoria. Each stroke of the brush accentuates the minute details hidden deep in the cracks of the previous layers, creating an illusion of depth and live texture. The result is surreal scenery where images are neither beautiful nor ugly. The work is done with a rare pigment, and is saturated with extremely vivid colors, making it difficult to immediately recognize as watercolor. Some of his inspiration comes from Salvador Dali, whose surrealism he have always carried a deep appreciation for. The water color images ranging in size from 10 to 30 inches are reminiscent of Brazilian daily life. They capture the discord of happiness and innocence coexisting with violence and anger.

Brazil Magazine, April 2007 - California, USA

X-Funs Magazine, October 2006 - Taiwan

Gazeta Brazilian News, Cores, formas e relevo com jeitinho brasileiro - by Leticia Kfuri - Florida, January 2005

Monterey Herald - Go! Magazine - Mixing it up - Brazilian artist Regis Silva brings an explosion of color and culture to the Pacific Grove Art Center - By Lisa Crawford Watson - California, July 2005

Monterey Conty Weekly - Brush with the Divine , by Ryan Master, California, July 2005

brasilbest-july-05-COVER-PA.jpg (237461 bytes) BrasilBest Magazine California, July 2005

Comunidade News, by Rita Colombo, Connecticut, December 2004

Brasil Magazine, California, November 2004

City Currents Newsletter by Patricia Arack , San Francisco City College, California, December 2004

The Brazilian Post - Tampa Bay - Florida, December 2004

Brazil Explore Magazine, by Andre Walcemberg, California, October 2004

Brasil California Magazine, California, August 2004

BrasilBest Magazine, California, Jannuary 2004

Fullerton News Tribune, California, July 2003

BrasilBest Magazine California, August 2003

BrasilBest Magazine, California, March 2002

Orange County Register, California, August 2003

BrasilBest Magazine, California, June 2001