• Chris DaSilva - Bio | Works
  
  

Chris DaSilva


I began my artistic training at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design where I earned a BFA in 1994. I then moved back to New York City to study classical painting and drawing at the New York Academy of Art. I graduated with an MFA in 1999. Since then I've been living and working in Brooklyn, NY. This body of work has taken a long time to develop. It has been important for me to progress naturally; following my vision with as little influence from current trends as possible.

In the year 2000 I began to paint large scale works with animals as the primary subject matter. My initial inspiration was simply to break away from painting the human figure, and to work with subject matter that most contemporary artists stayed away from. I could satisfy my desire to paint fur and flesh without any obvious narrative content. Over the years, the work has gradually become more surreal. The paintings have become fantastic dream images in which fear and wonder, anxiety and beauty coalesce into unsettling images. Nature is filtered through the subconscious. The paintings are simultaneously confrontational and inviting. I've managed to fuse my classically informed painting style with more contemporary compositional elements.