My work questions what counts as real by using paint to deconstruct space, systems, and language into abstracted mental maps. Sourcing from photos, memory, and dreams, they reimagine the body in the world through an intersecting lens of queerness, androgyny, and ecology. Manifesting as utopias, the threat of the dystopia builds a tension of safety versus harm, while unpacking a binary between femininity and masculinity, softness and hardness within a theme of resistance. Contrasts of simulations, deepfake, and disaster against love, self-hood, and camouflage expose and heighten conflicts of the present.
​
Renee Silva is a visual artist and educator in the Boston area. They received their BFA in 2016 in Painting from Mass Art and Masters in Art Teaching in 2023 at the SMFA at Tufts University. Their work has been shown at the Harvard Ed Portal, The Boston Convention Center, Digital Graffiti in Alys Beach and in Crosscurrents at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. Renee expands their painting practice through collaborations in video, known as FeverDreamScapes, and hand-painted apparel and ceramics known as Nippy Gibbler. They are currently Arts Faculty at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA.
Teaching Experience
2021 - Present Art Faculty, Phillips Academy, Andover MA
2016 - 2021 Art Teacher in Youth Programs, Mass College of Art and Design, Boston MA
2015 - 2016 Godine Gallery Manager and Curator, Mass College of Art and Design, Boston MA
Education
2023 School of Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University, Masters in Art Teaching, Honors, Boston MA
2016 Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Bachelor of Art in Painting, Departmental Honors, Boston MA
Residencies
2023 Summer Painting Residency, The School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
Awards
2023 Tuition Scholarship, SMFA at Tufts, Boston MA
2022 Special Recognition, Digital Graffiti, Alys Beach FL
2016 Dean Nimmer Auction Award, Mass College of Art, Boston MA
2015 Gamblin Paint Supply, Mass College of Art, Boston MA
Lectures
2023 Unknowing, Upgrading, Uncritiquing, ISAIAH Conference, Boston MA
2023 Deconstructing the Art Curriculum, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly MA
Solo & Two-Person Shows
2019 Bold Illusions: Alexandra Rozenman and Renee Silva, Hynes Convention Center, Boston MA
2018 Matter of Intention, Harvard Ed Portal Crossings Gallery, Allston MA
2017 Who Needs People When You Can Love Things, Craft & Caro, Boston Design Building, Boston MA
2016 A conclusion, Godine Gallery, Boston MA
Selected Group Shows
2023 Finger Mullet Film Festival, Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, St. Augustine, FL
Queer Knowing, All Street Gallery, NY, NY
Fish Tank, Flatiron Gallery, School of Visual Arts, NY, NY
Normal Now, Arnheim Gallery, Massart, Boston MA
2022 Digital Graffiti, Alys Beach, FL
Art After Dark, Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL
2021 Women in Abstraction, New Art Center, Newton MA
Some Assembly Required via Boston LGBTQIA Artist Alliance, Distillery Gallery, Boston MA
Blingee Fairy Fields, Loading Festival, Downtown Miami FL
2019 The Illusion Layer, Boston CyberArts, Jamaica Plain MA
Free Form, Gallery 263, Cambridge MA
2018 Art on the Marquee: Video Wall, Boston Convention Center, Boston MA
2017 Crosscurrents, Pennsylvania Academy for the Arts, Philadelphia PA
Hydra via Boston LGBTQIA Artist Alliance, Midway Gallery, Boston MA
Coded via Boston LGBTQIA Artist Alliance, Vandernoot Gallery, Cambridge MA
Emotional Currency in the Digital Age, Godine Gallery Boston, MA
Curatorial Projects
2019 Sectional, Dorchester Art Project, Dorchester MA
2018 Rose Ceremony, Casablanc, Roxbury MA
2016 Float dreams = 4D*cosradiansflower+sky; Godine Gallery, Boston MA
