Andrés Silva Vignoli.

I paint birds.

They are never only birds. They are migrants, survivors, performers, lovers, territorial rivals, symbols of nations, and stand-ins for ourselves. Throughout history, people have projected their fears, desires, and beliefs onto them. My paintings participate in this long tradition of projection and storytelling.

My work is shaped by an urge to collect and classify. Influenced by natural history illustration, cabinets of curiosity, and taxonomic systems, I am drawn to the human desire to name, order, and possess the world. Yet the living world constantly resists these categories. Birds cross borders, ignore political boundaries, and refuse to stay within the boxes created for them.

Once an architect, I remain interested in genius loci, the spirit of a place,  and the stories embedded within landscapes. Specific species become entry points into broader histories of migration, trade, colonial exchange, ecology, and local identity. Through them, I look for the character of a place and the often-overlooked connections between human and natural histories.

Birds occupy a peculiar place in queer language and imagination. In Spanish, words such as pájaro and pato, and in Yiddish fegele, have long been used to describe queer men. These associations have transformed birds into figures through which questions of desire, identity, belonging, and otherness can be explored. In my paintings, they remain birds first, while carrying these human meanings.

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