ALEX DA SILVA MAIA
Floresta in Green
There is much going on here within the celebration of colours, and I enjoy thinking of nature as a baroque stylist. After all, there has always been, to me, something quite dangerous about the woods, something subversively dark and yet colorful, ornate (as is the use of resin) and elegant. I hope the spectator can appreciate the sensuality of this piece. The woods can pull you in and swallow you whole. In high Gothic the woods often symbolize the unruly unconscious. Dreams, myths, fairy tales, epic journeys made more complicated by the darkest manifestations, the woods (or Floresta in my Brazilian Portuguese) call for self-analysis. What is it we seek when we go against warning, and follow where both beauty and danger intertwine? Or, perhaps this painting is just a lovely grouping of colours.
Alexandre Da Silva Maia
Artist Resume & Biography
Alexandre Da Silva Maia moved to Canada from London, England, at the age of five. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he has held on to his Brazilian roots, mixed in with patchwork memories from a childhood spent in the English countryside and the Canadian Prairies.
Alexandre’s academic background was in English literature, for which he received his Master’s degree from McGill University. As a self-taught visual artist living in Toronto, he finds himself drawn to his favourite literary motifs as inspiration; many of these coloured his childhood and now inform his exploration between magical realism and abstraction.
Since January of 2023 Alexandre has been represented by ArtMatch, an online gallery specializing in local artists both in Toronto and in Calgary.
In February of 2023 Alexandre was approached by Canadian Hadassah to donate a piece of his work to A Work of Heart, in support of the Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Unit or PCCU at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. In August 2023 a second donation piece was featured at the 25th Annual Starlight Children’s Foundation Gala in Toronto.
Alexandre’s work has been shown as part of a group exhibition entitled ‘Home’, during the full month of July at the Paper Mill Gallery in Toronto. As well, Alexandre’s work shows in a group exhibition entitled ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’ at the Leslie Grove Gallery from September 20 to October 8, 2023.
