Spotlight

Spotlight Painter Nina Silverberg

Championed by Hector Campbell
The Wick Culture - Rest, Nina Silverberg
Above  Rest, Nina Silverberg
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The Wick Culture - Nina Silverberg
Above  Nina Silverberg
Interview
Nina Silverberg
10 January 2024
Interview
Nina Silverberg
10 January 2024
Italian artist Nina Silverberg is starting 2024 with a bang. This week, her paintings will be part of a group show opening at Coulisse Gallery in Stockholm, opening on Friday, before her solo show debuts at London’s Soup gallery in March.

Silverberg hones in on everyday objects – from books to furniture – to explore where our inner and outer worlds meet. Made with a muted colour palette, her paintings radiate a quiet energy that has bewitched this week’s Spotlight champion, Hector Campbell, a writer, curator and co-founder of Soup gallery in London.

Campbell says: “Nina Silverberg’s paintings are characterised by solitary stillness and implied intimacy. They examine ideas of isolation, illness and the barriers we build between interior and exterior worlds. Timeless signifiers of human connection and comfort serve as her subject matter – recently opened books, gloves and bed frames. At once melancholy and magical, they suggest an inherent frailty and empowerment as coping mechanisms against our contemporary condition.”

Look closely at her work and you will spot unexpected details. Campbell adds: “In a poetic act of prophetic fallacy, rain often obscures the scenes, slanted and suspended in time as it stains the book pages, a recurrent teardrop-shaped trope.”

Silverberg often turns to paintings from the late Medieval period and early Renaissance for inspiration. She says: “I visited Giotto’s frescoes in Assisi at a young age, and they made a lasting impression on me. Now living in London, I’m able to visit some of the greatest works from that period by artists such as Paolo Uccello, Fra Angelico and Piero della Francesca, all housed at the National Gallery. I’m drawn to the colour palette and skewed perspective of artworks from that time.”

For her solo show at Soup gallery, she has been looking at ideas put forward by Jorge Luis Borges, and other writers, such as Umberto Eco. She adds: “The exhibition will take the form of a symbolic library of the internal world, of the self, where different books each have their own small mysteries, brought together into one abstracted narrative.”

You can join Silverberg on this inner journey at Soup gallery from 7 March to 13 April 2024.

About the champion

The Wick Culture - Hector Campbell, Art Historian, Writer, Curator Director & Co-Founder Soup Gallery

Hector Campbell is an art historian, writer and curator based in South London. In 2023, Hector co-founded Soup Gallery in Elephant & Castle, alongside Betty Guereta. He is also a founding member of Collective Ending HQ, a collectively run studio and gallery complex in Deptford, South East London.

“At once melancholy and magical, Nina’s paintings suggest an inherent frailty and empowerment as coping mechanisms against our contemporary condition”

Place of Birth

Rome, Italy

Education

BA in Painting at City and Guilds of London Art School

Current exhibitions

‘Holders’, a group show at Coulisse Gallery, Stockholm, 12 January – 11 February
A solo exhibition at Soup Gallery, London, 7 March – 13 April

Spiritual guides, mentors

When I need advice about my practice or career, I always go to Natalia Gonzalez Martin, a talented painter, dear friend and my long-time studio neighbour. I also feel lucky to be able to share my thoughts and ideas with a group of close artist friends.

Advice

While I was answering these questions, Laura Veirs’ ‘Year of Meteors’ served as great background music in the studio. So my advice is, just play some music and have fun with it!


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