| So how did the idea of putting the sculptures on display at La
Concepción come about?
We had been wanting for some time to put on an exhibition here in Malaga.
And then we got a phone call from La Concepción and they offered
us this chance. It was one of those occasions which life just presents you
with, without you lifting a fi nger. It was very special, because it was the
fi rst time he had had a single-artist show of his sculpture here.
One really striking feature was the way in which the fauna invented by
Guillermo blended in with the setting...
In the gardens, the same as happens in Norway, for example, which
we have visited a lot, nature is in control. Thanks to its scale, La Concepción
inspires many sensations, reminds us of the paradise which this
area could have been centuries ago. Nature is one of the essential elements
of my father’s work, which is why the match worked so well.
Guillermo’s works can be found all round the world (New York, Santiago,
Montreal, Jerusalem...). Have you ever thought about bringing
them together in a gallery dedicated just to him?
The idea we have been mulling over for some time is to set up a museum-
house right here. The word ‘museum’ refl ects the artworks, but
the word ‘house’ describes a way of living, of eating...
The principle of cause and effect which governs the world led Guillermo Silva to
“the consciousness of reincarnation”. From the very outset, mediaeval motifs had
had a strong presence in his paintings. He had never been able to explain this
attraction until someone, without knowing anything of his background, deduced
that he had been a knight errant in a previous life. “You see,” remarks Juan, “he
is a complete Don Quixote”.
India changed Guillermo’s life and work.
Completely. Look, my father’s family was divided into two, one rich and
one poor. The rich side were the owners of the Santa María Bullring in
Bogotá. It was there that my father was so struck by all the pain, covering
his eyes so as not to see that suffering. One of his relatives said to him
“open your eyes and learn to be a man”. That expression marked him for
a good long time, his fundamental question being “what does it mean
to be a man?”. 50 years later, travelling by car in India, he came across a
yogi sitting by the side of the path. My father stopped, got out of the car
and understood “that is being a man”. The lesson is that in everything
we need a reference point, something to guide us. For him, the reference
point is nature. He learned that in India, and reaffi rmed it in Norway.
As I understand it, it was there that he came into contact with the Supreme
Being. Are we talking here about God the Creator, and if so, how does
the relationship work between ‘creators’, one of the universe we know, and
the other of a dream-like universe inhabited by imaginary beings?
Well, my father experienced a revelation through death. He was very
close to dying. That changed his way of looking at life and how he
understands death. For him, the Supreme Being is the sole creator, and
the artist is merely an instrument channelling creation.
And so, I imagine that the creative process would ultimately depend on
“divine inspiration”, to put it one way....
I don’t know where it comes from, but when it strikes it makes him so
uptight that he cannot stop until it is fi nished. It becomes an obsession.
That inspiration could come at four o’clock in the morning, whether it
is a painting or a poem. He is very instinctive; he works by impulse.
How did he arrive in Malaga? What was it that made him settle down here?
Malaga has a very special energy, although it is increasingly camoufl aged.
My father was looking for somewhere warm. His engravings were selling
very well at the time in the USA, and we had plenty of money to
travel all round. We were in Italy, the Costa Brava, Barcelona, Southern
Portugal. We spent six months living in Nerja, and then hired a house in
El Limonar, in Malaga. Just as we were about to leave, this man came by
to tell us that they were opening a Yoga Centre in Churriana. That was
what made up my father’s mind to stay
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