8-color screenprint, 84.4 x 65.5 cm, Städtische Sammlung Erlangen
In his art, Rafa Silvares makes the everyday monumental and elevates aesthetics far beyond function. For the Brazilian-born artist, the neo-concrete artists of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Helio Oiticica, Lygia Pape and Wanda Pimentel, are just as important as the works of De Stijl, the designers of the HfG Ulm or the painter Konrad Klaphek with his abstracted everyday objects.
Although Silvares' paintings always depict something figurative, his handling of surfaces, space and color is based on that of non-representational artists. Even more than on what is depicted, the focus is on how it is depicted. In his print Red interior with smoke, the surface of the cup shimmers almost hyper-realistically, while the steam rising from it consists of broad, deep blue waves that hardly have the character of an image. The tomato, stylized but spatially depicted with various details, contrasts with the absolutely flat wall, which denies any realistic spatial effect.
The work was donated by the artist to the Städtische Sammlung Erlangen.
