Born in Melbourne, Silvia A Famularo has had numerous art works selected as Finalists in Art Awards, including Contemporary Art Awards, Whyalla Art Prize and Who is Looking at You? Portrait Prize. She completed a B.ED - Visual Arts at The University of Melbourne and a Master of Visual Arts at Monash University.
Famularo is a Secondary Art Teacher and a proud and dedicated single Mother of three. She has exhibited in and curated numerous group exhibitions over two decades.
Underpinning much of Famularo's work is her collage method of weaving together disparate vintage and art historical imagery to form unexpected, precise patterns and connections.
Her collages visually reimagine the figure in unexpected ways and draws on a miscellany of imagery into the play of her art making.
She intertwines otherwise incongruous elements such as additional body parts, hair, clothing, bird feathers, wings and other objects in a way that informs and surprises the viewer.
Through the creation of altered portraits of the body, she often references deteriorated ancient Greek and Roman sculptures which, in their original state are in disrepair, and transforms them into states of introspection, renewal and reinvention.
Her multi-layered suite of collages and portraits reference gestures and methods of disguise that border on the surreal, presenting somewhat allegorical and intimate aspects of human experience and her own Southern Italian lineage.
Famularo's tableaux has included the re-creation of artworks produced by her children, bringing a complexity to readings of motherhood and domestic experience, with themes of cyclical loss, grief and fear appearing alongside whimsical, painterly qualities. In her solo exhibition, 'Leave The Light On' at Montsalvat's Long Gallery in Eltham (2017), she represented a personal alternate universe, rich with ancestral motifs and the appropriation of her children's art and mark-making.
The series, "End of an Era" (2017) also formed part of the "Leave the Night Light On" exhibition at Montsalvat. The processes employed included manual and digital collage, photography, Fine Art printing and mixed media, combining the use of thread, oil paint, Photoshop, chalk pencils and pinholes.
Her "Impossible Body" (2015) series of paintings reference her collages, which depict the performance-based feats of contorted and awkward postures that one experiences in the daily grind of work and play.
Bluethumb online Gallery: https://bluethumb.com.au/silvia-famularo
Instagram: silvia_a_famularo_art
EDUCATION
Masters - Visual Arts, Monash University, Gippsland
Bachelor of Education - Visual Arts, University of Melbourne
EXHIBITIONS
2024 - West End Art Space, Collage group exhibition
- Antypical Gallery, Exhibition III, group exhibition
2022 - Segmento Tarantella Festival, Group Multimedia Exhibition, Collingwood Church & Edwardes Lake Park
- Bluethumb's Best Kept Secrets, Bluethumb online curated exhibition
2021 - Red Gallery, Rock, paper, scissors, group exhibition
2020- Satellite Gallery, The Old Bar, Fire Aid Benefit, group exhibition
2019 - Contemporary Art Awards, 2019, Brisbane, Queensland
2018 - NOIR Darkroom, group exhibition
- Contemporary Art Awards, 2018, Brisbane, Queensland
- BlackCat Gallery, Collingwood, Face to Face, group exhibition
- BlueThumb
2017 - CCP, Salon 2017, group photography competition exhibition
- NOIR Darkroom, Cut, Copy, Paste:The Art of the Zine, group exhibition
- NOIR Darkroom, Exquisite Ladder, solo exhibition
- NOIR Darkroom, Trashed, group exhibition
- Long Gallery, Montsalvat, Leave the Night Light on, solo exhibition,
oil paintings and mixed media works on paper
- Cambridge Studio Gallery, Collingwood, Who is Looking at You?, 2017 Portrait Prize.
- Contemporary Art Awards, 2017, Brisbane, Queensland
- Little Deer Tracks, Coburg, Leading Ladies, collages, oil paintings and mixed media solo exhibition
2016 -Brunswick Street Gallery, 40x40 Art Prize exhibition
- Linden New Art, The Linden Postcard Show, 3 collages, (Oct. '16 - Jan. '17)
- 69 Smith Street Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Back in five minutes, solo exhibition
- Contemporary Art Awards, 2016, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Beams Arts Festival, NSW, part of Sydney's Smallest Gallery installation
- Sydney's Smallest Gallery, NSW "3 x 3 cm exhibition", group exhibition
- Little Deer Tracks, Victoria, Impossible Body, solo exhibition
- Adelaide Festival Centre, SA, Whyalla Art Prize: A selection of works from the prestigious Whyalla Art Prize
2015- Contemporary Art Awards, 2015, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- The Snug Space, Northcote, "12 inches exhibition", group exhibition of record cover art
- Melbourne Arts Club, group exhibition
- Middleback Arts Centre, South Australia, Whyalla Art Prize
2014- Little Deer Tracks, It’s a Collage Frenzy, group self-curated show
2011- Little Deer Tracks, Grand Opening group show
2010- Counihan Gallery, Place & Belonging, Women’s Salon Exhibition
2006- Cusp Gallery, Northcote, Say die-a-gra-matik, group self-curated exhibition
2000-2005 - Counihan Gallery, Women Salon Exhibition
1999 - Counihan Gallery, More…Art In Moreland
- The Mechanics Institute Gallery, Women ’99, Salon Exhibition
1998 - Roar Studios, Untitled, group show
ART PRIZES / AWARDS
2019 - Finalist - Contemporary Art Awards, 2019, Brisbane, Queensland
2018 - Finalist - Contemporary Art Awards, 2018, Brisbane, Queensland
2017 - Finalist in Who is Looking at You?, 2017 Portrait Prize, Cambridge Studio Gallery, Collingwood (Caught in a thread , oil on board).
- Finalist in Contemporary Art Awards, 2017, Brisbane, Queensland (Third eyed , oil on linen & Uprooting myself, mixed media on paper)
2016 - Finalist in Contemporary Art Award, 2016, Brisbane, Queensland (3.30pm. I lost me in my body & 10.15pm. Every way I move is
the wrong way, collages)
- Finalist, members postcard competition, Creative Women's Circle, Melbourne (Side walking, oil on board)
2015 - Finalist in Whyalla Art Prize , SA, 2015
- Finalist in Contemporary Art Award, 2015, Brisbane, Queensland (Lost in orbit, oil on linen)
PUBLICATIONS
2018 - BlueThumb, Feature Article and short film interview - A Dark Twist on Experimental Portraiture
2017 - BlueThumb, Contemporary Figurative Artists, Curation Feature
- Moreland Leader, "Colouring-in takes dark turn"
- Catalogue, Contemporary Art Awards, 2017
2016 - “The demands of Everyday”, ‘Back in 5 minutes’ exhibition review, by Dr. Julie Rees, Contemporary Art Awards
- Patchogue Press, September edition online zine by Oliver Clarke, "Art work of the month" section
- Catalogue, Contemporary Art Awards, 2016
- Big Kids Magazine, Human, Keepsake edition
- AvantCard, Artist postcard project, distributed Australia-wide
- Zine, Silvia A Sellitto, designed & published by Adrian Franzese
- Catalogue, Back in five minutes, designed by Anita Mandile
- Catalogue, Impossible body, designed by Anita Mandile
- Catalogue, Contemporary Art Awards, 2015
2016 - Art Almanac, February edition
2013 -2015 - BIG Kids Magazine
2013 - Yeok - Melbourne artist blog page Q & A & “Draw A Creep” competition winner
1998/1999/2001 - Leader Newspaper
2009 - Counihan Gallery catalogue for "Place and Belonging" exhibition
2005, Counihan Gallery, Promotional postcards for Future Directions exhibition
EXHIBITION REVIEWS:
Leave the night light on, Montsalvat, Long Gallery, 2017
"Silvia Famularo creates surreal, dark works that draw on her children for inspiration. In her work, she explores themes of parenthood and her children's imagination, sometimes recreating their work in her own style". Bluethumb Online Art Gallery, Published Feb 27, 2018
Back in five minutes, 2016
The Demands of Everyday - 69 Smith Street Gallery: Back in 5 Minutes (2016).
Review By Dr Julie Rees
"Contemporary artist Silvia A Famularo’s new body of work, Back in 5 Minutes (2016) is a series of collaged self- portraits that draw inspiration from the demands of everyday life. Deliberately disrupting any sense of structured order, she visually reimagines the figure in unexpected ways. Each collage displays a disproportionate character juxtaposed against a white background. She combines disparate elements such as additional body parts, hair, clothing, bird feathers, wings, shoes and other objects in a way that informs and surprises the viewer. Some figures are arranged in still, awkward positions; others are in the act of moving. Silvia’s motivations for creating these works were to expose the illusions—and break free from the bondage—of the multi-tasking roles in her life. As such, Silvia’s self-portraits, Back in 5 Minutes (2016) explore the interchanging roles and rituals experienced in the everyday.For authenticity, Silvia considered the roles and rituals that she undertakes on a day-to-day basis. The self-portraits represent a transformative state, one that can be jarring and at times overwhelming. The use of collage to convey this concept symbolises the emotions felt by Silvia after intense activity. Overall, the works serve as a reminder that daily respite needs to be taken to help rejuvenate the energies required to achieve a work-life balance. It is these restful interludes that enable us to regenerate and alleviate daily pressures.By using collage as her communicative medium, Silvia has the freedom to neglect visual logic and impose her own perceived vision on the interchanging roles and rituals performed throughout daily life. It is through this exploration that the works touch a deeper narrative—one about the challenges we face when trying to maintain our schedules in a fast-paced modern society. Even though her work uses self-portraiture to narrate personal experiences, Back in 5 Minutes (2016) creates a space for viewers to reflect on their own roles and rituals and how it may affect them if they do not regularly take time to rejuvenate.The collaged works throughout this exhibition are exquisitely crafted and display Silvia’s technical mastery. Each figure presented appears to be an uncompromising invention that seems absurd, but in actuality, it reveals and expresses underlying issues that permeate many people’s lives. Back in 5 Minutes (2016) is an innovative, visual interpretation resulting from the demands of everyday responsibilities. The Melbourne-based artist is a qualified secondary visual arts teacher and, in 2006, completed a Masters of Visual Arts at Monash University".
**Photographic documentation on this website by Magdalena Bors & Silvia A Famularo.