Simon Silva

Artist Biography

Simon Silva art, prints and posters depict stylized portraits of farm workers bending to harvest crops, suns radiating heat, and picturesque fields and valleys. Silva says this isn't exactly an idealized portrait of farm working as he says, "there's nothing romantic about field work. The reality is long, sweaty and painful, destroying knees and knuckles, backs and bones. But the portraits do portray farm workers as those who are worthy of respect, those who do their jobs with dignity and pride.'

Silva's art, prints and posters are simplistic, powerful, beautiful, images of the Chicano culture. Silva grew up, like many from farm working families, with a tremendous lack of self-esteem. During his childhood, from the age of eight on, Silva worked every Saturday and Sunday, every holiday, and every day of the summer doing field work. Silva was born the sixth of eleven children in 1961 in the border town of Mexicali, Mexico. The Silvas family moved permanently to the United States in 1962 to nearby Holtville, California. From the very first, teachers noted his artistic abilities and often asked him to draw. He eventually attended nearby Imperial Valley College and majored in art.

"Through my art, prints and posters, I'm able to make a powerful situation out of what I had been ashamed of,” he says. The same can be said for ethnicity. It carries a lot of baggage that can either tear you down or lift you up. Despite his deprivations as a child, Silva appreciates what his parents were able to give him. Silva spends a lot of his time traveling around the country speaking about his experiences and the importance of art and literature.

Simon Silva Art, Prints and Posters Collection