Caterina Silva
  • current
  • works
    • Moira / Mɔjra / Mɔɪ.rə
    • antiluna dietro
    • unpowered
    • Diary of a Space
    • Impressioni
    • Amor Proprio
    • 15 kg
    • tic tic
    • SSOL/AP
    • Münster
    • Calcutta
    • Senza sistema / ssol
    • Marco, Paolo, Ashok, Luigi, Luca, Adele, Alighiero
    • tbc (august)
    • Soggetto. Oggetto. Abietto.
    • io non amo la natura (archive)
    • ghosts
    • Luglio Unnot
    • Subverting dualities
  • News
  • bio
  • press
  • book
  • current
  • works
    • Moira / Mɔjra / Mɔɪ.rə
    • antiluna dietro
    • unpowered
    • Diary of a Space
    • Impressioni
    • Amor Proprio
    • 15 kg
    • tic tic
    • SSOL/AP
    • Münster
    • Calcutta
    • Senza sistema / ssol
    • Marco, Paolo, Ashok, Luigi, Luca, Adele, Alighiero
    • tbc (august)
    • Soggetto. Oggetto. Abietto.
    • io non amo la natura (archive)
    • ghosts
    • Luglio Unnot
    • Subverting dualities
  • News
  • bio
  • press
  • book
Caterina Silva
Picture
Picture
Picture
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Marco, Paolo, Ashok, Luca, Luigi, Adele, Alighiero, 2015, installation view, Rijksakademie Open, Amsterdam
Picture
Luca_acrylic, water soluble oil, pencil, spray-paint, fire and fabric on canvas_200x140cm, 2015
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Marco_acrylic, oil, fire and fabric on canvas_200x140cm, 2015
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Paolo_acrylic, spray-paint, dust, fire and fabric on canvas_200x140cm, 2015​
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Ashok_golden paint and objects on plastic_200x140cm, 2015
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Luigi_acrylic, water soluble oil, pencil, saliva and fire on canvas_200x140cm, 2015
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Adele_acrylic, oil, pencil, fire and fabric on canvas, 200x140cm, 2015
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Alighiero_acrylic, oil, pencil, fire and tea n canvas_200x140cm, 2015
​

NL
Caterina Silva wil beschouwers van haar schilderijen net zoveel vrijheid geven als ze zichzelf gunde bij het maken ervan. Ze wil geen controle over de betekenissen van haar werk, maar voert wel duidelijk de regie over haar handelingen. Silva probeert steeds te voorkomen dat ze in routine vervalt zodat ze bewust blijft schilderen. Daarom experimenteert ze met nieuwe technieken. Ze brengt meerdere lagen olieverf aan op een opgespannen doek, laat het doek vervolgens in elkaar krimpen waardoor de verf barst en plakt de snippers op andere schilderijen. Ze stempelt met een nog nat doek op andere werken of steekt delen in brand. Ze maakt en ze vernietigt. De doeken tonen de sporen van haar acties.
Parallel aan die pogingen om te ontsnappen aan automatisme, probeert Silva opgelegde hiërarchieën te doorbreken. Haar werk kan gaan over machtsverhoudingen tussen mannen en vrouwen, of de regels van de hoge kunst. Ze maakt wel schilderijen, maar drijft er ook de spot mee door te breken met traditionele materialen en technieken. Ze schildert op zowel kwaliteitslinnen als afdekplastic.

EN
Caterina Silva grants viewers of her paintings as much freedom as she granted herself when making them. She doesn’t want to control the meaning of her work, but she clearly manages her actions.
Silva continuously tries to avoid routine so she can keep painting in a conscious way. That’s why she experiments with new techniques. She applies several layers of oil paint to a stretched canvas, then shrinks the canvas making the paint crack and sticks the shards onto other paintings. She stamps with a damp cloth on other works and partly sets them on fire. She creates and she destroys. The canvases carry the traces of her actions.
Parallel to these attempts to escape automatism, Silva tries to break imposed hierarchies. Her work can be about the balance of power between men and women or the rules of high art. She’s a painter no doubt, but she also mocks the medium by breaking with traditional materials and techniques. She paints on high quality linen as well as plastic.


Rijksakademie cat. 2015