Featured Artist

Ernani Silva, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has developed a distinctive style that contains abstract, Brazilian and African elements, laced with rich and vibrant color.  Silva’s work reflects Brazilian cultural influence of African, Indian and European descent. Growing up on a hill in a settlement originally populated by African runaway slaves, Silva began painting at age fourteen and soon became convinced that painting was his destiny.

Soon after discovering that his destiny was tied to painting, he ran away from home to Bahia. Enjoying the culture that Bahia offered, Ernani worked on improving his technique and in 1989 migrated to the United States. Since then in his own words his work has become “less primitive”, yet continues to reflect his homeland of Brazil in its various forms, feelings and moods. Ernani’s work sometimes borders on the mystical or bizarre and at other times his work is funny and satirical.

As Ernani Silva continues his journey as a career artist with over thirty years of experience, his semi-abstract paintings continue to evoke his cultural content of his native Brazil together with his African and Indian heritage. "Striking colors, rhythm and movement - at times he becomes a choreographer and purposefully directs the figures on the canvas and at other times, he is a storyteller documenting elements of his culture and folklore or an activist fighting for the preservation of disappearing peoples - all combine to produce a very visceral response in the viewer."    

Silva states, “My art is also therapy for me; it is a cathartic force in my life as well as others. My inspiration is life itself.” Additionally, “the material itself does not matter – the most important thing is the human feeling conveyed into the material. I work with various mediums and always concerned with creating new textural forms and compositions. By continually creating to infuse collages and multi-media I bring a new dimension. I work with canvas, wood, paper, glass, zinc, fire and other metals. In the process of creating collages a largely improvisational medium my thoughts are always with conservation, preservation, and recycling. Turning trash such as paper, empty bottles, broken glass, and discarded lumber into treasures is one of the solutions to the worlds’ problem of environmental pollution. It is my hope that my art embodies and incorporates “thrash” which will act as an inspiration for others. Additionally, I am also intensely concerned with the preservation of the disappearing flora, fauna, peoples and cultures of my native Brazil”.