“Magnetic” (2025), oil on canvas, 23.62 × 23.62 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and DCG Contemporary, shared with permission In Surreal Portraits, Rafael Silveira Tends to the Garden of Consciousness May 29, 2025 Art Kate Mothes With scenic vistas for faces, blossoms for eyes, or nothing but coral above the shoulders, Rafael Silveira’s surreal portraits summon aspects of human consciousness that span the spectrum of the wonderful and the weird. The Brazilian artist describes his work as “a profound dive into the human mind,” merging flowers, landscapes, and uncanny hybrid features into visages that channel humor with a slightly sinister undertone. Silveira’s forthcoming solo exhibition, Agricultura Cósmica at DCG Contemporary, traverses “the fertile terrain of the subconscious,” the gallery says. “With a nod to pop surrealism and the uncanny, his work imagines the mind as a garden where thoughts are seeds and images (are) the wildflowers that sprout.” “PLEEESE” (2025), oil on canvas, 23.62 × 23.62 inches Silveira works predominantly in oil, using panel or canvas as a surface and occasionally surrounding his works with ornate, hand-carved wooden frames. The sculptural details of the frames, like an anatomical heart in “Eyeconic Couple” or an all-seeing eye topping “A Crocância do Tempo” — “the crunchiness of time” in Portuguese — read like talismans. Many of Silveira’s compositions begin with a traditional head-and-shoulders portrait composition as a starting point, but instead of skin we see a distant horizon, like in “Magnetic,” or a figure’s head supplanted by a stalk of coral or a column of fire. Other pieces omit the human outline altogether in amusing arrangements of vivid flowers, which suggest wide eyes and addled expressions. While human forms shed their emotional autonomy as they converge with their surroundings, the flora in works like “OMG” and “PLEEESE” are a profusion of awe and desire. Agricultura Cósmica opens in London on June 12 and continues through July 10. The show runs concurrently alongside an exhibition titled Plural by embroidery artist Flavia Itiberê. See more on the artist’s website and Instagram. “Eyeconic Couple” (2025), oil on panel and hand-carved frame, 15.75 × 35.43 inches “Inside Out” (2025), oil on canvas, 35.4 x 31.5 inches “A Crocância do Tempo” (2025), oil on panel and hand-carved frame, 35.4 x 31.5 inches “The Artifice of Eternity” (2025), oil on canvas, 23.62 × 31.5 inches “OMG” (2025), oil on canvas, 23.62 × 23.62 inches “Paixão Ardente” (2025), oil on panel and hand-carved frame, 35.4 x 31.5 inches “The Roots of Reality” (2025), oil on canvas, 35.4 x 31.5 inches Next article