Raphael Silveira Melts Thoughts & Memories Into Paintings
There is something contagious about the work of Brazilian artist Rafael Silveira, as if the zeal he gleans from transmitting vision to canvas are somehow captured inside those melting popsicles, rose mouths, and flirting birds. That zeal then ricochets onto the audience, nudging an upward curl upon our lips. Much of his whimsical work can be likened to Magritte, one of history’s most iconic surrealists, who often combined unlikely objects, floating about in space normally reserved for facial features (think apples, oranges, and birdcages where a head should be). Yet as Magritte used a more subdued palette, Silveira employs cotton candy colors that practically glide off the canvas. In his scenes, headless busts are besieged by oozing flora or feathered friends with eyes for bellies, amongst magenta clouds and emerald skies. We’ll also find trees with high-heeled legs for branches, and eyes dripping off tables. (A little nod to Dalí perhaps?)
It seems that there are no limitations to the stirrings of Silveira’s imagination. “Ever since I can remember, I have been drawing, my thoughts filled with a chaotic imagination that blends everything around me, as if everything melts and merges somehow, including my thoughts and memories. I believe I started drawing by imitating my older sister,” he says.
Growing up, Silveira didn’t consider himself to be particularly skilled with the pen. Yet his obsession spurred him to articulate the unusual images which infiltrated his (still) buzzing mind, in whichever way possible. As a young teen, he started off creating humorous zines (influenced by MAD and Robert Crumb), spawning a ten-year career as graphic artist, working in design, advertising, and illustration. In his work today, we may still notice traces of this tight rendering, yet his use of the brush has allowed for an extra dimensionality and expressive freedom which better suits his style.
It was his sister who ultimately inspired him to shift from graphic art to painting altogether. A talented oil painter of more traditional subjects such as landscapes and still lifes, she unfortunately passed away at the young age of thirty-three, a loss that left a deep mark on Silveira. By picking up where she left off at the easel, Silveira subliminally feels he has kept her creative spirit alive. He shares, “A year after her death, I started painting. It was as if the energy that made her paint had remained, hovering over the family, and slowly melted and fused with my soul. After about two years of painting, I quit my formal job to become a full-time artist. That was in 2009.”
I WAS REALLY FOCUSED ON HARMONIZING WHAT I SAW AS TWO OPPOSING FORCES: THE HUMAN (ORGANIC AND NATURAL) WITH THE MACHINE (RIGID AND UNNATURAL)…”
Although a dubious decision at the time, he was possessed with an urgency to thrust himself wholly into art, as if at any moment, he could very well be the next to go. This tenacity seems to have paid off; fortunately, he remains among the living, painting to his heart’s content while imparting a zest for life that is reflected equally in his work and his personality. “Today, I feel like I made the best decision. One of the things that makes me happiest about painting is the ability to transport these images from my mind into the material world, allowing the world to see what I see,” he says.
Silveira considers everything that surrounds him as fodder for what he calls a “chaotic and disordered mental collage,” which fuses our memories, our travels, the books we read, the movies we watch, our time spent in nature—no visual or mental stimuli escapes the idea factory that is his brain. He adds, “And there is also the collective unconscious. A certain energy that I feel from old prints, the so-called ‘paper ephemera,’ which were materials seen by many people in a distant time, that are a deeper layer of this collective unconscious. I feel a strong inspiration from this type of print, whether labels, old magazines, or old encyclopedias. I feel a strange energy from them that attracts and inspires me in some way.”
There isn’t such a thing as typical day in the studio for Silveira, nor does he adhere to a regular routine—only a process that contains various phases which he intuits as he goes. There are the purely creative moments, wherein he is wholly immersed in a spiraling world of images, of which he tries his best to jot down as quickly as they appear. His notebooks are brimming with doodles and accompanying notes, spelling out assortments of possibilities and combinations, lest they become indecipherable squiggles.
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MAKES ME HAPPIEST ABOUT PAINTING IS THE ABILITY TO TRANSPORT THESE IMAGES FROM MY MIND INTO THE MATERIAL WORLD…”
Another part of the process involves further anatomizing these improvised sketches, by using tools from his design and illustration days to explore complementing colors and compositions. These studies then serve as the basis for brand-new works on canvas, “… as if I’m building a diorama of a mental scene. In another phase comes the actual painting process, which is like the taxidermy of a delusion, where, armed with pigments and brushes, I meticulously materialize my visions. The painting, in a way, immortalizes an image. That fascinates me. Being able to transform a fleeting emotion into something eternal,” says Silveira.
Currently, he is working on an exhibition to be held at Galeria Choque Cultural in São Paulo in September 2024, which will be a split show with textile artist Flavia Itiberê, who is also his beloved wife, studio partner, and mother of their daughter Amanda. Following that will be a solo exhibition at Dorothy Circus Gallery in London, as well as another show at KP Projects in 2026. “When I set up an exhibition, it feels like I’m walking inside my own mind, with each painting as a window offering a view of one of these delusions that share their existence with me,” he says.
His latest body of work recently made it all the way from Curitiba to Los Angeles for the first time, a dream come true for Silveira. Picturesque Hallucinations, featured at KP Projects in July 2024, offered viewers a nibble of everything that his vast palette has to offer. This included, but was not limited to, lush landscape scenes, unusual faceless portraits, and even a few hand-carved frames that accentuated their subject matter. One such piece, “A Virtude da Cremosidade,” shows a fair-haired lady emerging from a cosmic land of ice cream. Her Victorian dress drips with creamy soft-serve goodness, while planetary sugar cones hover in a nebulous sky. And the frame? It had all the delectable looks of ice cream after sitting in the sun for some minutes. This is the kind of playfulness Silveira imparts to our senses, making us ask for another scoop, which he thankfully has no qualms in serving.*
This article appears in Hi-Fructose Issue 72. Get the full issue in print here.
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