Jose Da Silveira

Jose Da Silveira, like many other celebrated painters before him such as Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Chagall, has been undeniably marked by the magical lights and colors of his French Provence. Da Silveira's gift for art, discovered at an early age, gave him the opportunity to study with some of Provence's greatest masters, including Maurois and Ambrogiani. He began showing his work professionally at age 16. His work is both forceful and unique, with a mastery of color and pigment technique that earned him a dedicated following. As his style matured and evolved, art critics and connoisseurs coined it Formism, and a new school of art was born. 20 years later Formist painting continues to inspire a new generation of artists. Da Silveira's style combines contemporary technique and form with explosive color and powerful imagery. But the passion which forms the core of his work finds its source in his turbulent and colorful youth. Da Silveira was born in 1965 in a tiny jungle village in Mozambique, on the vast and agitated African Continent to a celebrated Portuguese rejoneador (bullfighter), and the daughter of one of the leaders of the French Resistance in Provence. As his father was in Africa fighting in the Mozambican Liberation War, Da Silveira spent the first years of his life shuttling between Africa and France, then Portugal and France, ultimately settling with his mother in Marseille. Although the extreme thirst for life which Jose learned at an early age is always apparent in his work, the recurring theme of romantic and parental love is the muse of his work, which he describes as visual poetry. With his works in some of the most prominent collections in Japan and Europe, including that of the Portuguese Royal Family, Da Silveira began seeking a new challenge: the New World.