Solo Show by Resident Artist David DaSilva
Show Open & Artist Talk: Saturday, June 23, 6-8 pm
Show Run: June 23 - July 9
Show Open & Artist Talk: Saturday, June 23, 6-8 pm
Show Run: June 23 - July 9
Through the use of large historic ceramic vessels, layered surfaces, and reoccurring motifs, David DaSilva’s Past Tense seeks to invoke the varied and deep relationship humans have with ceramic objects.
Artist Statement:
“I don’t intend to tell a cohesive narrative, to lead to a specific conclusion … My forms gesture towards ancient Roman shipping amphora, projectiles, and the human form. The surfaces are busy with layers of information and texture. I’ve sought to work within this frenetic aesthetic in hopes that it can capture and hold the thoughts and emotions I had at the time of their imprint.
The last forty or so years of neoliberal capitalism can be felt through the mass anxiety it engenders and the contradictions it is built upon. How can this anxiety and depression I feel as I consider at the word around me be synthesized into my work? … This mode of thought does not present a clear picture of our world. Instead it presents the viewer with images and impressions—of toys, infrastructure, military technology, cultural iconography, and so on … Inherently, I felt the project would be fragmentary in essence.”
David is interested in how a ceramic object can capture a moment in time while provoking new narratives far into the future.
"Human civilizations have an intimate relationship with ceramic vessels; in storage and commerce, in homes and conversations, they are what remains. Their very existence brings to the fore the question of what is left behind. In their bare composition they capture a plastic moment, a thought, a culture, to be looked back upon. There is an inherent language in ceramic objects. Through their creation their lives are longer than the civilizations that birth them, and while fragile even their shards will hold atomized narratives into the future."
About David DaSilva
David DaSilva is a 2018-2019 resident artist at the District Clay Center and is runs the production end of the District Clay center. He is a recent graduate of Bennington College. David will be continuing on as a resident artist at District Clay for 2019-2020.
Artist Statement:
“I don’t intend to tell a cohesive narrative, to lead to a specific conclusion … My forms gesture towards ancient Roman shipping amphora, projectiles, and the human form. The surfaces are busy with layers of information and texture. I’ve sought to work within this frenetic aesthetic in hopes that it can capture and hold the thoughts and emotions I had at the time of their imprint.
The last forty or so years of neoliberal capitalism can be felt through the mass anxiety it engenders and the contradictions it is built upon. How can this anxiety and depression I feel as I consider at the word around me be synthesized into my work? … This mode of thought does not present a clear picture of our world. Instead it presents the viewer with images and impressions—of toys, infrastructure, military technology, cultural iconography, and so on … Inherently, I felt the project would be fragmentary in essence.”
David is interested in how a ceramic object can capture a moment in time while provoking new narratives far into the future.
"Human civilizations have an intimate relationship with ceramic vessels; in storage and commerce, in homes and conversations, they are what remains. Their very existence brings to the fore the question of what is left behind. In their bare composition they capture a plastic moment, a thought, a culture, to be looked back upon. There is an inherent language in ceramic objects. Through their creation their lives are longer than the civilizations that birth them, and while fragile even their shards will hold atomized narratives into the future."
About David DaSilva
David DaSilva is a 2018-2019 resident artist at the District Clay Center and is runs the production end of the District Clay center. He is a recent graduate of Bennington College. David will be continuing on as a resident artist at District Clay for 2019-2020.
