SILVA LINARTE
SCENES FROM THE SOUL
Delicate, mysterious and sensitive painting, laconic in terms of language yet deep when it comes to emotional experience, which shifts between joy and love, sadness and tragedy, and leads to reflection about eternity in nature and one’s immediate surroundings. Art that mesmerises with an interplay of light and dark – amidst faint outlines of objects, flowers or drapes, barely traceable in the half-light, an occasional burst of brilliant light – a ray of sunshine or a moonbeam highlighting a silhouette, sending one away from reality and into a world of illusion. Painting with smooth transitions where the subject is at once important and not, while the way it is conveyed remains ever essential. A mysterious and enchanting world, expressed in half-words – amidst flashes of light and dark both indoors and out in the open.
Depiction of space – a window with a hint of a breeze in the curtains, gently billowing drapes in the corner of a room, a door left ajar – still suggestive of the shifting tricks of moonlight…
Fascinating diversity in nature’s ambience, depicted not as a specific setting but as a generalisation, a conditionality that lasts through the seasons, in daytime and night-time, morning and evening reflections, as scenes drawn from Silva’s very soul.
Countless views of small town courtyards, stripped of everything but the most distinctive, watercolour-like subtlety with delicate linear touches. In still lifes, amaryllis – Silva’s special flower – simple and robust, forever inspiring. Also, compositions with sunflowers, apples or glass vessels, which evince a different perspective and appear more impressionistic and colourful.
A polychrome world that is home to Silva’s multi-coloured personality which shines through the mundane. Spellbinding interplays of colour that engage the eye and the mind – from subtle, pastel-like hues to boldly brilliant blends. Recurrently, a predominantly unobtrusive colour scheme in dark, muted tones – greys and browns mixed with rich blues and blacks and interspersed with an occasional white accent. Bright flashes of vibrant reds, yellows and greens flooded by fields of deep blue and black.
Silva’s works gain unique pictorial qualities from successful texturing, fluid colour mixing and many other tricks of the trade known only to the artist. They remain hidden in her private treasure chest, all the while drawing viewers into a thrilling process of interpreting this game. I am still charmed and bewitched by Silva’s youthful worldview.
Another morning – the same old window with amaryllis in its pot, the same old corner of the room, the same old road winding into the distance… The same, familiar motifs with a new twist. Through the open window – reflections of Silva Linarte’s canvasses…
Valda Mežbārde
