CHICAGO—The Philippines have given us an array of excellent master artists. This reporter interviewed four Filipino-American artists—father and son Bueno and Eulalio Silva, Willi Red Buhay, and Fred DeAsis.
Eulalio Silva knows how hard it is to follow in the footsteps of a famous parent. Son of master painter Bueno Silva, Jr., he recently participated in a nine-person show, "Down the Street," at an elegant home gallery in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. During a lull after the show, The Epoch Times caught up with the artist to discuss his art.
ET: When did you come to the United States?
E. SILVA: I remember that my father was having a solo show in San Francisco called "Sining Filipino" (Philippine Art) which is why my parents left the Philippines in 1979. I vividly recall our enthusiasm when we arrived in the United States. Like me, my father was seeking greener pastures to provide for his growing family and to showcase his art to a fresh audience. It was a dynamic time for us… new home, new schools, new everything.
ET: We would also like to know something about your life in the Philippines—-where you spent your childhood.
E. SILVA: I was 12 years old when I moved to America. I felt alive. I grew up in a different world where kids were more attuned to life's harsher realities. Our lives were relatively good compared to most Filipino families. In our home spirituality, art and family life flourished. I remember all of my father's many solo shows, all of which we attended religiously.
We participated in every opening as though it were a religious festival day. We met all the important people, other artists, and my father's many fans. Artists well known and unknown descended on our home like the plague just to be near him. What made us feel so proud was that though he was self-taught, my father brushed elbows with the legends of the Philippine art world, the university professors, and dignitaries from around the country. Rich and poor alike didn't matter to us; everybody came to our many parties and celebrations. They adorned their homes with my father's art.
ET: Once in Chicago where did you study art?
E. SILVA: We settled in Chicago in 1987 after migrating from state to state… California, Virginia and finally Illinois. After a few months living in Chicago I decided to attend the School of the Art Institute. I didn't go there directly but enrolled at Loop College (now Harold Washington College). I took some liberal arts classes. I even toyed around the idea of becoming a computer engineer but this didn't last. Even at Loop College I found myself drawn to art and started taking drawing classes.
I once did a portrait of the late Mayor Washington, the school's namesake. My portrait of Harold Washington now hangs on a wall of the college library—not a bad legacy for a young engineering student with an interest in art, huh?
ET: Was your family supportive of your decision to study art?
E. SILVA: It was my family who encouraged me to pursue my dream and enroll at the Art Institute so I did. I got a scholarship from that school and began my formal art training. If it wasn't for that scholarship I couldn't have studied there.
ET: Eulalio, could you name some of the artists that helped you to develop your own personal style of painting?
E. SILVA: When I attended the School of the Art Institute, like my father, the Impressionists awed me the most. The paintings of Camille Pissaro, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin became ingrained in me forever. I loved these artists and their style of painting… Monet's misty mornings, Pissaro's verdant and lush vegetation. Among the post-Impressionists I will have to go with Van Gogh. In my paintings I tried emulating these greats.
ET: What about the philosophers, religion, and spirituality? How are you influenced by the great thinkers? How do they affect your way of thinking and doing things?
E. SILVA: Although I'm Roman Catholic I have had some deep and profound experiences in existential philosophy and Eastern religion… Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism have led me to practice Tai Chi Chuan. I also express my spiritual yearnings via classical and romantic music, and operatic arias.
ET: It looks like your life has come full circle.
E. SILVA: I agree that my art life has gone full circle. I see and realize myself in the faces of my family. My art isn't static but it is still being reborn through my work and the work of my little son. Though I live in Chicago my work still takes on some of the style and character traits of the Bay Area. It's emotional, classical, and my art tries to speak to the modern man and the contemporary woman. My art is a reflection of myself.
I'll quote my reason for painting directly from my website www.fabiedesilva.com: "To be able to participate in the creation-like process of image-making through painting is, in a sense, almost God-like in having the power to generate images that evoke emotions, memories, psychological conditions, elation and humiliation."
To learn more about Mr. Eulalio Silva, email him at: artist@fabiedesilca.com or at his website: www.fabiedesilva.com.
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