| Hildebrando Borges da Silva | |||||
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Date of Birth: October 24, 1922 The Silent Eloquence of the Paintbrush We commenced by giving this piece a title, title that ought in itself to capture the essence, spirit and subject of any given work. To recall our encounter with Hildebrando in his well-aired and tidy studio brings to mind introverted modesty, the humility of his gestures and sparseness but wisdom of his words. All around us images are strewn, an assortment of paintings that speak to us of his being. On a shelf of a white book stand, tomes of the diverse influences suffered throughout the years pile up … Da Vinci, the Impressionists and Art throughout the Ages … Nothing in his fresh features and disconcerting innocence the eyes belies his almost 80 years of existence! Here, it is the paintings that fill up the space which constitute the most decipherable and transparent code to his persona. Over there, the symmetrical orderly display of paintbrushes carefully laid out on a shelf - the paintbrush, the silently eloquent voice of and fellow traveler on a sojourn to the world of painting. Completed works and others still in progress walls and corners, Watercolours of the streets and squares of his beloved homeland, the Azorean Island of Terceira, and Faial; the sienna browns of taciturn Toronto brick houses tumbled in overgrown gardens, the red route of a streetcar floating down the tracks in Portugal Village, the fiery and intrepid caravels suspended on the crest of a wave of a wild sea spread out across a wide and immense canvas still on the easel; Lusitanian mariners engraving their heroism in the heart of stone and men under the vigilant eye of the Corte Real brothers in Newfoundland - a page of history painted by a hand that lends form to an oneiric past; popular religiosity in a legend of faith of roses and bread, portraits of people that are or have been. Hildebrando Silva speaks of his childhood years spent in the Town of Angra do Heroismo in the Azores in the care of an aunt, who encouraged his fascination with form as a boy and which had been revealing itself since an early age. Having completed primary school he went to work in a store and attended a commercial course at night school at the Escola Comercial and Industrial Madeira Pinto in Angra. In 1947 he obtained a job at the USA Air Force Base at Lajes where he worked in the graphic arts department of Engineering and later at the US Command. During this prolific period of intense activity, which the painter describes as his golden years, he develops his polyvalence as an artist creating posters for events in and out of the base, scenarios and props for the theatre and murals. The US Base in Lajes has been considered to be one of the best-decorated bases in the world, largely due to the creative hand of Hildebrando Silva. His good taste and artistic talent lead him to take part in several exhibitions and art contests both as a participant and a member of the jury. The Town of Angra' s annual religious festivals dedicated to Saint John, saw many a float designed and conceived by the then youthful artist. He immigrates to Canada in 1966. Settling in Toronto, the painter continues his work, to be found in several private collections and art patrimony of some of the churches within the Portuguese community of Toronto. He has taken part in a number of individual and collective exhibitions both in the Azores and Canada, where he has come to play an important in maintaining the art flame alive amongst the Portuguese immigrant community, earning love and respect him. Seen as fundamentally a realist - a portrait and landscape artist - Hildebrando Silva employs diverse mediums in his works, oils, watercolour, charcoal and pastel. Admitting that the general public's taste tends toward realism, the influence of impressionism marks many of his works. Despite the predominance of realism in his painting, he occasionally ventures into the realms of abstract art through which he channels his subjective, creative impulses.
He talks of the great … Rembrandt, El Greco, Monet, Cezanne, van Gogh and Picasso. However, it is empathy or lack of it with a piece of art that ultimately determines his judgment of it. He praises the mastery of Salvador Dali' s realist technique and surreal concepts and considers being exposed to different styles, colour, techniques and mediums to be a young artist's best master and perseverance to be his best companion down the art road. His ambition is to carry on giving form to beauty and dream of the treasures of the Louvre, El Prado and the New York art milieu. Amongst several individual and collective exhibitions in which
he has participated are: Note: For further information, please contact Adiaspora.com |
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