On occasion, I feel the need to take
the various themes that I am developing in my paintings and weave them
neatly together under a single all-encompassing rubric. However, I was
not having much success with my latest attempts at a "Grand Unification
Artist's Statement" and was even considering the possibility of
adopting an additional personality to take credit -- or perhaps defend
-- those stubborn dangling tangents that refused to fit neatly into
the "nutshell" I was attempting to craft.
Then recently I had an epiphany, triggered
by a very unexpected source. This source, a voice I usually associate
with mangled syntax and fugitive meaning, managed to lift my prolonged
mind fog with just two words: "revisionist
history." And yes, while thrilled that I have finally
discovered a unifying principle to integrate my seemingly disparate
interests, I do find the circumstances leading to my breakthrough a
bit embarrassing. I mean, should I credit the master of this voice for
bringing order to my world, this man who, along with his entourage,
seems exceedingly gifted at mucking things up? (Perhaps they are like
the trickster gods of mythology, slapping us all repeatedly in the face
until we wake up
or die from severe head trauma).
The exciting part is that this breakthrough
requires me to adopt a new identity, one that may be more relevant than
that of painter. So please allow me to introduce myself: my name
is Marc Silva, and I am a Revisionist Historian. Welcome to my web home.
And visit often, because things, you know, change.
- September 7, 2003