Eulalio Fabie De Silva Interview

Artist Bio: Born the 6th of June 1968 in Manila, Philippines, Eulalio Fabie Silva, III was named after his internationally acclaimed Philippine artist father [see Bueno Silva interview, 2010]. Growing up within an artistic environment helped him set himself in the footsteps of his father in the endeavor of the visual arts. Eulalio, the first of 4 siblings of the elder artist, emigrated to the United States in 1980 and later continued his quest to become an artist while being educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1989. De Silva has continued exhibiting in various group shows around Chicago while serving as a curator/exhibitor at the North Lakeside Cultural Center of Chicago during the early 90s. He has exhibited to make his own indelible mark in cre­ating his own genres and compositions based on visual observations of land­scapes and figures amidst their emotional or existential life. He taps on the famed Gauguin’s ever questioning stance: D’où Venons Nous / Que Sommes Nous / Où Allons Nous (Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?)...the question of our own identity, our immediate surroundings and other beings. De Silva’s main influences are from the plein-air artists and abstract expression­ists of the 50s and 60s that favor the formal qualities of a painting processes of building then rebuilding, creating then defacing while giving importance on expressing the internal turmoil and triumphs through brushstrokes and color. Signing his work “Eulalio Fabie de Silva” set himself separate yet descended from his father while having the same name and endeavor on the arts while acknowledges his mother’s maiden name “Fabie” – a tradition inherited from the Spanish culture that occupied his homeland, the Philippines for 350 years. “De Silva” is from the original surname before it was “shortened”. Thus the sym­bolic gesture correspond to the “new” name signify a new outlook in life as a person and as an artist. De Silva is married to Roseanne Rasmussen of Niagara Falls, NY is an aspiring poet of her own who recently published her poem “The Homeless Man” with other poets in the anthology entitled: “ETERNAL HEARTLAND”. Michael Patrick Silva, their lone offspring is a potential artist/chef/inventor at 13 years old who won the Best of Show, 1st Prize (Kindergarten - High School), Best in Painting and Critics’ Choice award in Bloomingdale Art Museum at the age of 4. He is now a 7th grader at Aspira-Haugan Middle School. - Bio courtesy of the artist, 201