Nina Silverberg: Approach

An empty pavilion is starkly contrasted by a flat indigo background. Deep and mystifying like the bottom of a lake, Nina Silverberg’s palettes of blue allow for a moment of pause, simultaneously spaces of melancholy and meditation. The hue’s universal symbolism is used to explore themes of isolation and interiority; similarly, its rarity within nature becomes an apt metaphor for the surreal. Silverberg’s latest work explores the space between sleep, allowing each painting to become a window into a dream-like landscape which mediates between reality and memory.

The building’s hollowed-out form is composed of vernacular elements – a pitched roof and curved arch all expressed as one material. Its pale blue form is cast in a muted terracotta shadow, sitting atop a plinth of two steps which runs off the canvas. The edges are precise and underneath the flat planes of colour, the texture of linen is visible. The seemingly simple forms create a timeless urbanism, devoid of ornamentation and instead distilled into pure shapes. Reminiscent of a childhood spent in Italy, skewed perspectives remind one of wonky floorboards, enlarged openings like oversized doors, the architectures of the eternal city captured in abstract memory.

Depicted in isometric projection, the built form of the pavilion is set at a distance from the viewer. Its four columns like spindly table legs awkwardly splay out from the springing point of the arch, misaligned with the shadow they cast. The painting feels at once familiar yet uncertain, the slight perspectival anomalies combined with their apparent simplicity cast the painting into a world beyond. Inspired by medieval miniatures and artists such as Giotto, Silverberg’s compositions often play with perspective, a way of exploring reality and lived experience. Although solid and precise, the architecture thrums with a life of its own – devoid from any human presence they become sentient, concrete forms laced with memories. 

The pavilion’s shadow is granted a similar sentience, rife with a dense materiality – like a carpet it cascades to partially cover the two steps. A deep teal hue, its centrality to the composition allows it to assume an air of significance, highlighting the approach and providing a temporal dimension to the composition. Exploring how we ascribe symbols to objects and places, Silverberg’s poignant atmospheres invite us to dwell in their thick silences and liminal spaces, standing on the threshold of consciousness.