Silva / Vivona

Unique Perspectives

Bill Vivona and Francisco Silva: Unique Perspectives

The New Providence Memorial Library Gallery walls featured two NJ area artists: Bill Vivona and Francisco Silva, during the 2 months of February and March 2023.

Francisco Silva is an oil painter whose style is influenced by Edward Hopper, Fauvism and the Social Realist painters of the 1920s and 1930s. The rich textiles of his Peruvian roots are reflected in his use of vibrant color, and his brushwork is a combination of loose, painterly strokes and controlled detail.

Bill Vivona was an esteemed award-winning art teacher in New Providence High school for 26 years. He is an illustrator and printmaker, who uses a variety of techniques: paintings, etchings, photographs, linoleum block prints, and multi-media images and drawings. His works also draw from 20th century American Realism through the Pop Art movement.

We had a reception on Monday, Feb 6th at 7:30pm, with an artists talk by Bill Vivona in the Conti Community Room of the library.

Francisco Silva's Artist Statement:

My painting is inspired by my surroundings and the daily interactions I experience within them. I use color to express and evoke emotion preferring to mix all colors, including black, from a limited palette. The process is analytical at first, striving to create a balanced composition as a foundation for the work. When painting starts, I apply loose strokes to convey movement and energy. As the painting evolves, I refine only certain areas for emphasis and to create contrast.

Through my work, I try to connect with the viewer by sharing my personal moments in life. As their eyes move through the painting, I want them to ask questions about the subject matter, the location and my interpretation of that instance. I want them to react to the canvases whether they're large and panoramic scenes or smaller ones that are more personal and intimate.

Francisco Silva January, 2023

You can visit Francisco's website at : https://www.franciscosilvaart.com/default.php

Bill Vivona's Artist Statement:

There is something really satisfying in taking materials and crafting something from those materials. I discovered early in my life when I began to, and continue to look at materials, trying to determine the possibilities of them. I also look at EVERYTHING as subject matter for making art. Daily life, familiar and/or unfamiliar surroundings, nature, people, city-scapes.... it was almost like trying to galvanize everything that I came into contact with into a piece of art.

Most all of my subject matter involves things and places that no longer exist. I think that, at the time I was considering those things as subject matter, I knew that their ‘life’ was finite, and so I was literally trying to preserve them, in my own way. Interestingly even the place where I purchased my art supplies (Pearl Paints, Weber, Fishman Photo), have 'disappeared' or gone out of business.

I hope you enjoy my work, I am still producing art every day.... and I hope that you are too!

Bill Vivona; January 24, 2023