Jean Silver
The World is Watching 20 x 16 Mixed Media
La Petite Gallerie is delighted to welcome Jean Silver into our mix of talented artists. In Jean's words...
I came to painting at the age of 61, self-taught and driven by an instinct I could no longer ignore. What began as curiosity has become a sustained and joyful practice of looking at what wants to emerge.
My process always begins with the background. I work in mixed media, building surfaces intuitively through layers of paint, collage, and mark-making on canvas and paper. Color, texture, and gesture accumulate without a predetermined result. I let the surface develop its own logic. Then I stop. And I look. Figures appear — a face caught in shadow, a woman holding a gaze, flowers pressing forward from the layered complexity beneath them. I don’t impose these images. I find them. That distinction matters deeply to me. Most of what finds me is feminine. Sometimes androgynous, they were waiting in the layers all along. The materials I use — paint, collage, mark-making, line — are not merely technical choices. They are how I think. Each layer added and partially obscured, each line drawn and left visible, reflects the way the being is created: accumulated, layered, maybe not entirely resolved.
This process results in works that tell a story. The story I see maybe totally different to the next viewer. My collectors tell me my paintings are not their usual style. They do, however, initiate entertaining discussions.
I paint because it brings me profound joy, and because the figures keep showing up.
Jean can be reached directly by email jeansilverart@gmail.com, or telephone 704-999-8694. Facebook @jeansilverart Instagram @jeansilver_art