--- title: "Fantastic Animals (2005–2006) · JCC-089, Chico da Silva by Garcia, painting" description: "Fantastic Animals (2005–2006) · JCC-089, Chico da Silva by Garcia. Acrylic on canvas, 50 x 60 cm. Painting in the João Cunha Collection." canonical: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/fantastic-animals-2006-089/ lang: en license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ translations: en: https://chicodasilva.org/en/paintings/fantastic-animals-2006-089/ es: https://chicodasilva.org/es/pinturas/animales-fantasticos-2006-089/ fr: https://chicodasilva.org/fr/peintures/animaux-fantastiques-2006-089/ pt: https://chicodasilva.org/pt/pinturas/animais-fantasticos-2006-089/ ar: https://chicodasilva.org/ar/%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-2006-089/ zh-Hans: https://chicodasilva.cn/%E4%BD%9C%E5%93%81/%E5%A5%87%E5%B9%BB%E5%8A%A8%E7%89%A9-2006-089/ --- # Fantastic Animals ![Four small paintings in a wooden box frame: a crested bird, two fantastic fish and a snail, on hot grounds. Fantastic Animals, Chico da Silva by Garcia, 2005–2006, acrylic on canvas.](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-089/chico-da-silva-by-garcia-fantastic-animals-2006-acrylic-on-canvas-50x60cm-framed-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-089-chicodasilva.org-640.jpg) [Download image](https://img.chicodasilva.org/jcc-089/chico-da-silva-by-garcia-fantastic-animals-2006-acrylic-on-canvas-50x60cm-framed-joao-cunha-collection-jcc-089-chicodasilva.org-3200.jpg) Description for blind and low-vision visitors Four small horizontal canvases are mounted edge to edge inside a single wooden box frame, two in the upper row and two in the lower. The wood is dark and stained, and its inner face is chamfered, so a shallow shadow falls across the outer edge of each canvas. The four panels touch, with no divider between them, and each carries one creature against a saturated ground. In the upper left panel a crested bird stands in profile facing right, its comb and wattle bright red, its eye ringed in orange. The wing is built from overlapping bands of green and blue that enclose three white eight-pointed stars on a purple field, and the tail sweeps down to the left as a long striped fan of rose, blue and green. Two large butterflies hover to either side of the head, their wings patterned with pale eyespots. The ground is yellow, crossed by a wide blue band, and the lower right is filled with rows of small green fan-shaped shrubs. The upper right panel holds a large fish facing left. Concentric rings of pink, orange, yellow and green circle its eye, and a row of spined fins rises above the head. The body divides between a pale dotted field and a dark panel scattered with pale spirals, and the tail opens into a striped fan of blue, rose and cream. Below it a second, smaller fish shows an open mouth full of triangular teeth. The ground moves from orange at the upper left through yellow to deep blue at the right, with a band of wine red across the bottom. In the lower left panel a snail takes the centre. Its shell is a spiral of ochre, brown and cream worked in fine dots, and its body is a long striped form in purple, blue and orange that ends in a raised head with two eye stalks and two thin antennae. Broad green leaves spread beneath it and three rosette flowers rise on curving stems above. The ground is yellow, with a blue band at the right and a field of rose and wine along the bottom. The lower right panel is filled by a marine creature whose shell is a mass of overlapping fan-shaped scales in rose, blue and cream, carrying four large blue eyespots in a row. Its dark head turns to the left with an open mouth and pale teeth, and a crest of orange spines runs along its back. It rests on a striped orange form. The ground is divided between red, pink, yellow and deep green. - **Artist:** [Chico da Silva by Garcia](https://chicodasilva.org/en/biography/) - **Year:** 2005–2006 - **Technique:** Acrylic on canvas - **Support:** Canvas - **Dimensions:** 50 x 60 cm - **Collection:** [João Cunha Collection](https://chicodasilva.org/en/about/) - **Signature:** CHICO DA SILVA POR GARCIA, lower edge of each panel - **Photo:** João Cunha - **Inventory no.:** [JCC-089](https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-089) ## How to credit [Photographs free to reuse, with credit (CC BY 4.0)](https://chicodasilva.org/en/about/#license) Chico da Silva by Garcia, “Fantastic Animals” (2005–2006). Photo: João Cunha, João Cunha Collection, CC BY 4.0. https://chicodasilva.org/id/jcc-089 The license covers the photograph, not the painting. ## For IIIF viewers - [IIIF manifest](https://chicodasilva.org/iiif/jcc-089/manifest.json)