Silvia Poloto - Exhibition

Art=Life=Art

Posted on June 24, 2009
by Michael Yochum

One of the highlights of ArtSpan’s recent Tour des Artistes studio tour was a visit to the live-work space of Silvia Poloto. With Silvia, the line dividing her life from her art is definitely blurred. She lives in a loft where she is completely surrounded by her art – works both finished and in progress. Her life permeates her art and it is, in turn, permeated by it. She told me that she cannot imagine living in a space where she could not immediately access her paintings at any time. It is not that she needs to be constantly working; but, ideas for work can come to her at any time and she loves being able to walk into her adjacent studio when that happens.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, more than a dozen intrepid art trekkers made their way to this Mission oasis. There we sat around drinking fine wine and nibbling on artisan cheeses, while Silvia held court. Silvia is a great story-teller and her story is both inspiring and moving. Raised in Brazil, she was born into a family and a society that was not particularly supportive of any artistic ambitions. For her parents, the academic achievements of her brother, leading to careers in engineering, were praise-worthy. So, intensely competitive by nature, she focused on academics. She entered the best engineering schools; became a sales engineer; and went on to get an MBA – all to prove to everyone that she was as good as or better than her brother. Becoming an artist was not an option – not even a dream.

Then, love entered the picture and everything changed. Everything became possible. She met her Irish husband on a beach in Brazil. After a whirlwind romance, they married. Billy won the Irish “U.S. green card” lottery and off they went to live in the United States. Three months after moving here to San Francisco, and without the familial and societal pressures, Silvia decided that she had become an engineer for all the wrong reasons; and she quit. She took some metal-working classes at City College of San Francisco and started making sculpture. She actually worked as a welder for a short time.But her art quickly gained traction. Her art professors recognized her talent and encouraged her. She got a merit scholarship to the Art Institute, but dropped out quickly because she needed to focus on actually making art to meet the demand. Galleries started representing her. Art consultants sought her out. When she stopped making sculpture and turned to painting, they all came along for the ride. It was, in many ways, a charmed life. Then, recently and tragically, her husband, who was both her best friend and an important partner in her career, became seriously ill. This year she lost him to cancer, on Valentine's day. On this visit to her studio, he was omni-present in both a large series of photographs and in a funerary art piece she created. It has been incredibly challenging, but we all got a sense of just how strong, just how determined Silvia is. She is back to work on her painting and her new abstract works are incredibly energized. There are a lot of different elements in Silvia’s current work. She has worked in sculpture, photography and video, in addition to painting. And all of these make their way into her artistic process. With photography and sculpture, the idea comes first.

These are what she calls “thinking pieces”. She has a vision and she sets out to realize the vision in the work. However, she pointed out that “there is a space of not thinking, even in the thinking pieces”. With painting, it is more overtly “not thinking”. Her goal is to allow her sub-conscious to direct the pieces. The works are not really planned out in advance. These are what she calls “intuitive pieces”. They develop naturally. I asked her a question that I often ask abstract artists: “How do you know when it is done?” In her inimitable style, she stated with absolute confidence that “I always know when it is done; it is very clear”. She realizes that other abstract artists have a hard time knowing when to stop. They hang paintings on the wall for weeks to be certain that the work does not need something else. But for her, there is clarity and certainty. When a work is done, it is done. In both art and life, she is striding forward confidently. Silvia Poloto is represented at numerous galleries nationwide (see “contact & galleries”). She also will be participating in San Francisco Fall Open Studios this October. And, her studio is open by appointment.