Pamela Silver’s exhibition is a joy to behold

DR DANNY SHORKEND

Aptly titled The Colour of Light, her watercolours and prints dance with enthusiasm, vibrating to a song conjured by colour and sensitivity to material. Her colours appear to bleed into one another, creating a hazy effect. Perhaps most fascinating about these works is Silver’s ability to at once recall the distinctiveness of flowers with an abstract kind of notation. This is most evident in some of her sugar- lift aquatint etchings, in which I could not help perceive a calligraphic element recalling writing systems of the East.

The viewer is attracted to Silver’s squiggles and splashes, blotches and drips that magically yield the shape and life of these flowers. The flowers refer to her home, close to Jerusalem, as well as to her memories of the Cape and her historical footprint, stretching as far as Lithuania. Thus, the flower motif becomes a constant in historic time, marking a link between the past, present and future.

Silver is guided by a general optimism. Indeed, I would compare her project to the kind of lightness of a Matisse, especially in her love of colour, the joyous streaky mark-making, the attentiveness to surface and space, and the focus on softness and serenity. One might also recall abstract expressionist Hans Hoffman in Silver’s approach, which she describes as an intuitive letting go- in the way that her paintings often seem to solidify into rectangular colour-forms juxtaposed with other interesting abstract designs. They take on a life of their own, charged with potential symbolic value.

It’s not all abstract, though. This well curated show presents photographs of the artist’s history, so that the flower theme also suggests a story. A story of hope and triumph, of light over darkness. The magic is that Silver does not overburden the viewer – there is always space and she has a special resonance with a certain kind of paper that she sourced in her travels in Kolkata, India. The overall effect is the oscillation between movement and rhythm, and serenity and stasis.

Silver has exhibited in Israel, Japan, the UK and the US.

Here at the Irma Stern gallery, there is added excitement as Silver traces her roots to Africa as well. A series of works in the middle room refer to an interest in Bushman art and inspiration from Zimbabwean hills. One might conjecture that in so doing, her art invites a kind of collective consciousness. This, I would surmise, emanates from her home in the Holy Land, the very centre from which light and true life emanate, encompassing the whole world. 

• The Colour of Light is on at the UCT Irma Stern Museum until 24 February.