Description
‘Amethistis’ by Silas
Artist: Silas
Title: ‘Amethistis’
Medium: Oil and acrylic on wooden panel
Dimensions: 11.8″ x 10.4″ x 0.4″
Framing: Unframed
Year of Creation: 2023
About the Artwork:
“My paintings often tend to tell a story, but they don’t always need to be more than engaging portrayals that make you stand still for just a moment. Life shines through the eyes and this is where I try to capture my character’s emotion. It can instantly be recognized when looked upon, whilst at the same time silently asking you to consider an increasing number of other stories or sentiments.
The characters I portray are fictional. I create my sketches in Photoshop by using cut outs of facial parts of various existing models and shape them into a new personage.
Inspired by cinematography and fashion photography, the composition of my paintings are of great importance. A first layer painted with mixed materials or a paper collage forms the basis on my canvas. After this I use a technique of applying transparent layers of acrylic and oil paint, to finish it all off in merely oil paint.
When the vibrancy of shapes and background are in harmony with my colour palette, when my character has come to life and all details have been worked out, then for me, the job is done.” – Silas
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Silas Schletterer was born and raised in Middelburg, The Netherlands. At the age of 19 he moved to Rotterdam to study Illustration at the Willem de Kooning academy of art, from which he graduated in 2000. After a couple of years of working as an illustrator, he decided to follow his heart and started focusing on his autonomous work. Today he makes a living as a contemporary artist.
Inspired by films and fashion photography, he chooses young women and men to star in his work. The paintings he makes tell a story. The composition of his paintings often tends to be cinematographic, where nature claims a central role. The relationship between human and animal, the search for a long lost soulmate and a desolated habitat are recurring subjects in his work. However, Silas’ work simultaneously engages with you as a totality and as a multiplicity, telling you one particular story in a particular way, whilst at the same time, silently asking you to consider an increasing number of other stories and questions. The same goes for the series of portraits Silas produces, portraits that make you question the story, the sentiment that lies behind the facial expression of the personage.
The characters he paints are fictional. By combining facial parts of different models and recomposing them into a new model Silas creates portraits of distinct personages. Although his work can be recognized by the boldness of his colour palette and by that certain way of characteristic painted key players, Silas keeps experimenting with this classic theme, using mixed techniques to construct the layering,
Silas was a member of Dutch art collective Antistrot (1997 -2010). This renowned group of artists did shows all over the world (Tokyo, Miami, Dublin,..) including two solo exhibitions in New York and San Francisco. Currently Silas is one of the 6 members of the art collective KAMP HORST, established after the demise of its predecessor Antistrot. The main focus of its six members lies on making group paintings on both canvases and walls, but illustration and design also make up a big part of KAMP HORST’s body of work.