De La Warr Pavilion is pleased to present the first institutional solo exhibition of London-based artist, Mike Silva, for its autumn-winter season.
Silva (b. 1970, Sandviken, Sweden) paints portraits, interiors, still lifes, and landscapes drawn from an ongoing personal archive of photographic material. This archive, much of which is rooted in the London of the 1990s and early 2000s, is presented as an evolving constellation on the artist’s studio walls, with printed photographs tacked, taped, grid-lined, and painted. These images serve as a flexible material that Silva draws from instinctively, gradually shifting their subjects from the photographic to painted space.
Through his ability to capture subtle shifts of light and shadow within moments quietly and intimately observed, Silva moves beyond the photorealist genre through his gestural application of paint on canvas. The generous use of white in his process offers a hazy quality to many of the works, connecting to the fleeting moments that they depict and the transient nature of recollection. In each composition, we sense a tension between the instantaneous nature of a photo captured in the past and the slow movement of bringing that image into the present through painting. Encountering Silva’s works is thus a physical and focusing experience. Although we may recognise certain signals to a past moment in each composition, his ability to render images on the canvas recrystallises memory in the present moment of our looking, creating a timelessness that resonates throughout his oeuvre.
The exhibition at DLWP will bring together new and recent paintings including portraits, interiors and landscapes. These include acquaintances, friends and lovers of past and present, as well as the interior spaces that these subjects spend or spent time in. Responding to the ambient quality of DLWP’s Ground floor gallery, the exhibition will include several works where light serves as a compositional protagonist, together with a new landscape painting showing the dappling of light through a parkland enclosure – a former cruising ground in North London. Together, the selection of works at DLWP conjures people and spaces of time passed through peripheral moments activated throughout the gallery.
A new, fully-illustrated publication will accompany the exhibition, featuring an extended interview between Silva and Joseph Constable, Head of Exhibitions at DLWP, and a text by artist, editor and writer, Sean Burns.
Mike Silva’s exhibition is organised by De La Warr Pavilion, in collaboration with the Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre where it will tour in spring 2025.
Mike Silva studied at Hastings College of Art, Middlesex University, and the Royal College ofArt. He has had solo and group exhibitions at The Approach, London; Anton Kern Gallery,New York, Sid Motion Gallery, London; Pallant House, Chichester, Arnolfini, Bristol, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, and Wilkinson Gallery, London. His work is held in several collections, including Tate, UK, Government Art Collection, UK; British
Council, UK; University of Warwick Art Collection, UK, and Jerwood Collection, UK.
There are plenty of welcoming and good value B&Bs & boutique hotels in Bexhill. The De La Warr Pavilion regularly uses the following :
- By Rail
Direct trains go from London Victoria, Brighton and Ashford to Bexhill.
There are also trains from London Charing Cross, changing at St. Leonards Warrior Square and from London Bridge or Charing Cross going to Battle. Battle is only a short taxi journey away (15 mins approx).
Visit www.nationalrail.co.uk for up-to-date train travel information. - Taxis
Town Taxis: 01424 211 511
Parkhurst Taxis: 01424 733 456 - By Car
If driving from the London area:
Take the M25, then A21 to Hastings. Turn off at John‘s Cross and follow the signs to Bexhill.
OR
Take the A22 to Eastbourne, go across the Bishop roundabout to the A271 and follow the signs to Bexhill and the seafront. The De La Warr Pavilion is on the Marina.
From the Brighton area:
Follow the A27 out of Brighton until you arrive in Bexhill On Sea. - Parking
Please be aware the Rother District car park outside the De La Warr Pavilion operates paid parking until 7pm. After this time parking is free. There is also lmiited free car parking along the seafront.
Within the limits of this Grade One listed building, the De La Warr Pavilion strives to be fully accessible with a range of facilities to support your visit.
Assistance Dogs are permitted into the building.
Please contact the Box Office on 01424 229 111 to arrange a visit.
Facilities for disabled visitors
- Ramped access at the front of the building
- A low counter at the Box Office and Information Desk
- Disabled toilets on two floors
- A lift to all floors
- Accessible galleries on both floors
- An accessible Café
- Spaces for wheelchairs in the auditorium for seated events
- Ramped access in the auditorium for events during the day
- Ramped access into the Studio
- Two travel wheelchairs are available for use at the De La Warr Pavilion. To reserve, please call our box office and information desk on (01424) 229111 or ask a member of staff on arrival. The chairs are provided on a first come, first served basis and are intended for use inside the Pavilion. Please contact us for more information.
Facilities for blind or visually-impaired
- Large print season brochures
Facilities for the hard-of-hearing
- An T-Switch induction loop in some areas of the auditorium (please indicate when booking as this facility is not available on the balcony)
- British Sign Language interpretation tours of the building and exhibitions are available on request.