Roberto Silva Ortiz (b.1984) is a Puerto Rican artist based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Trained in oil on canvas, he has explored other mediums, such as sculpture and printmaking.
His work's primary sources of influence are neo-Figurative art, Classicism, and Magical Realism. The artist finds a point of departure to a contemporary vocabulary in classical art. Silva Ortiz looks into themes from the past, not to go back in time and reproduce the style, but rather to look into those classic models as a reference. The artist returns to the roots as he considers them essential to his practice, resulting in a visual dialogue between past and present.
Looking for these roots in different cultures, Silva Ortiz lived abroad, exhibiting in various countries such as Cuba, Norway, Spain, Kosovo, and the United States.
Silva Ortiz received a BFA from Academia San Carlos in Havana, Cuba. He was awarded the Painting Fellowship Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Ithaca, NY, and The H. Peter Khan Family Fellowship at The Ink Shop Printmaking Center, Ithaca, NY.