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Rich DiSilvio
USA
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“My goal is to focus on the one asset humans have that no other earthly creature shares; namely the imagination.”
Rich DiSilvio was born in 1957 in the Bronx, New York, and currently resides on Long Island. He majored in art in college and attended The Traditional Academy of Painting, studying under a protégé of Norman Rockwell.
A Harrowing Discovery | Photoshop
25 X 24
The disturbing yet masterful sculpture “Rape of the Sabine Woman” by Giambologna came as a harrowing discovery to me many years ago. Disturbing, due to the rape in progress, and disturbing, that Giambologna is relatively unknown.
As such, for years I yearned to celebrate this magnificent sculpture in a work that would pay tribute to Giambologna while creating something bold and new that would heighten the drama. “A Harrowing Discovery” is the result.
With a solid foundation in traditional realism, DiSilvio followed his own interests and ventured into surrealism, fantasy, and sci-fi art, being inspired by such artists as Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, M.C. Escher, Frank Frazetta and Roger Dean. Rich has worked in oils and acrylics, clay, charcoal, and pencil, with a strong emphasis on digital and photo-manipulation in recent years.
Cloud Cruising | Photoshop
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Rhinos have always fascinated me, perhaps due to their strong yet prehistoric physique, with their huge horn and thick skin. And the fanciful thought of a rhino floating and gliding across the clouds struck me. With a human manning the rudder of a skiff, the large rhino appears to almost be surfboarding across the sky, from cloud to cloud.
Rich worked on projects for the Moody Blues, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Yngwie Malmsteen, and a host of others. That included various films and documentaries, such as James Cameron’s “The Lost Tomb Of Jesus,” “Operation Valkyrie,” “Kirkuk”, “Celebrity Mole”, “The ManShow”, “Monty Python: Almost the Truth”, Tracey Ullman and others.
“My works are featured in Primo magazine as “A Renaissance Man For The Digital Age.”
Additionally, as a multi-award-winning author, DiSilvio has written about famous artists, both in fiction and non-fiction, with such titles as “Leonardo vs. Michelangelo,” and the “Tales of Titans” series, with perhaps the “Arnolfini Art Mysteries” series being the most popular.
Joy Ride | Photoshop
35 X 50
Animals always add a special charm or even grisly appeal to a work of art. Here the playful fancy of dogs being carted around on a giraffe’s back entered my mind; that is, once I realized that an old coach I had once photographed would make the perfect vessel to “carry” my idea to fruition.
Surrealism offers us the ability to communicate to others our dreams and imagination, be it absurd, profound, or to provoke questions. So in this piece, the question remains: “What are they waiting for?”
Waiting | Photoshop
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His works appear in private and corporate collections, in the 9-11 Memorial Museum and Italian American museum in NYC, while his painting of the famous composer Peter Tchaikovsky (from his Pantheon of Composers gift collection, which retailed at performing art centers worldwide), resides at the Tchaikovsky Estate Museum in Votkinsk, Russia.
“While some of my works dive deep in the strange and bizarre realms of surrealism, many offer only hints of the illogical. This, is to make the viewer feel what they’re seeing might possibly be real.”
“My art and new media work in the music and entertainment industries earned me an international reputation, having worked on projects for Pink Floyd and many others.”
DiSilvio’s work in the fields of art, architecture, fiction and non-fiction literature, music, and even software development (having programmed and designed the first interactive software to educate staff and parents about autism) has earned him the moniker Renaissance Man.
Liber’s Lagoon | Photoshop
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The allure of ancient Rome runs wide and deep. And with Liber, god of fertility and freedom, overlooking the palatial pool, all seems simply magnificent.
DiSilvio’s surreal and fantasy art takes center stage, as this is where his vivid imagination runs free, creating a luminous spectrum of fascinating visuals. Ranging from profound and provocative imagery to whimsical flights of fancy, DiSilvio’s mastery of technique, composition, and clarity of vision is always present and recognizable.
Chess Battle | Photoshop
23 X 48
The game of chess, at its core, is one of strategy for sure, but also one of gore. We may ignore the ugliness of war while playing on a pristine game board, but their actions and object of the game runs much deeper and darker. Hence, a glimpse of what might transpire in a real chess battle.
Rich’s early introduction and experiments with digital art in the 1990s led to a prolonged fascination with this new medium. For as he states: “I never thought I would embrace digital art, being so well grounded in traditional oils and acrylics. But the advent of Photoshop and 3D applications opened my mind to explore new avenues. And since computers are indicative of our times, I believe digital art reflects humankind most appropriately at this juncture in world history.”
Surrealism is the perfect outlet to make manifest one’s imagination. Here the illogical merges with the impossible to create a world that is distinctly unreal and whimsical, yet with nuances of reality.
Flights of Fancy | Photoshop
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“My award-winning fine art has appeared in galleries across the USA, from New York to California.”
Sacred Vows | Photoshop
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Having sailed out far into the vast Pacific, I was overcome by the otherworldly vision of deep, blue ocean seemingly merging into clear, blue sky. With only the bow of the ship visible, it set the stage in my mind for something supernatural. Adding birds (in what appears to be a nuptial service) and a planet on the horizon, a cold and vacuous image was transformed into one of warmth and higher meaning.
Moreover, having the ability to enhance my productivity has been a godsend, since the seemingly endless stream of ideas that I’m impelled to make tangible would have been seriously diminished if I adhered only to the much slower process of oils and acrylics.
The first in my Geometric Series, “Liquid Assets” started with only a circular window. That in turn opened a window in my mind, where I envisioned a place where the liquidity of money (which fuels the world) finds a new interpretation; part of this world, yet not of this world.
Liquid Assets | Photoshop
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It appears DiSilvio’s endless stream of ideas remains quite fertile. From DiSilvio’s solemn and profound concept for a 9-11 Memorial, which incorporated all three disaster sites in one clever design, to humorous imagery, such as “Joy Ride,” featuring a giraffe given the task of carting around dogs in a coach strapped to its back, the endless font of DiSilvio’s ideas is staggering as well as fascinating.
Betta Blue | Photoshop
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The fourth in my Geometric Series, “Betta Blue” took the basic elements of “Liquid Assets” and transformed them to give life to a betta fish (seemingly swimming yet floating), complimented by decorative, aquatic nuances.
“One never knows what to expect next from this prodigious master of vivid dreams and the imagination.”
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