A New Look at the Cellist—

Silve’s expressive paintings are balanced with the structure of a cellist, aggressive strokes and random drips. They are her interpretations of her senses and how they interact with reality. In her paintings, her thoughts and emotions revolve around and connect to the cellist. She uses a performing cellist because it is a tangible subject which stimulates our auditory senses, but also encompasses time with a narrative quality. She places the cellist in a nonexistent environment to speak about feeling, mood and relationship rather than a cellist. Silve's work is derived from neo-expressionists, figurative artists and abstract expressionists such as Willem de Kooning, one of her main influences. Similar to de Kooning keeping the figure of a woman, Silve uses the icon of the cellist throughout her present work. Silve uses a visceral process, painting passionate marks which result in assured lines bursting with emotion. This technique is balanced with fluid, restful strokes that exhibit a narrative or lyrical quality. She creates a history of her life’s rhythms with a depth achieved by layer after layer of paint. She strives to create a unity from the tensions of reality and the etherealness of emotions.