Rick Silva, (left to right) "Liquid Crystal," 2023. Series of 7 30 second videos, no sound. Commissioned by Whitney Museum of American Art for Sunrise / Sunset series; "Peaking," 2022. 4K video, 25 min. Installation at Oregon Contemporary. Photo: Mario Gallucci
Rick Silva is a Eugene-based Brazilian-American artist and educator who creates large-scale, immersive video installations.
Using technologies like computer software, scanners and cameras to collect data, Silva crafts digital landscapes that blur the boundaries between the natural environment and simulation. They are part science fiction, part documentary, and prompt viewers to question reality, and along with it their connection to the land. Explains the artist: “I was born in Brazil in 1977 and moved to Colorado at age ten. I spent much of my childhood in anticipation of this move, daydreaming about alpine peaks and possible futures. This early experience has reverberated throughout my life and shapes the conceptual framework of my practice.”
Notes Nóra Ó Murchú, Artistic Director of transmediale Festival, Berlin, “As a former student of experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage, Silva carries on a tradition of creative misuse of technology, and of merging media through a contemporary art lens.”
His work has been exhibited at institutions including The Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AK; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. He has been featured in Artforum, Wired, and Rhizome’s Net Art Anthology. Silva is an Associate Professor of Art at The University of Oregon. Silva holds a Master of Fine Arts from The University of Colorado.