Asem Ansari

Asem Ansari

From the Artist:
I’m always fascinated by texture–texture of objects and surfaces. The kind that gives me feeling of touch. Texture can come from soil, clay, mud, sand, brick, concrete, wood, iron, human body, animal, water, sky, moon, you name it. Texture, the sense of touch generates feelings of real to surreal and that juxtapose color, space, and forms. In a way, my paintings are expression of experience, mixture of visual and intellectual exercise and understanding life. I am keen on representing my surroundings, where I come from, and where I belong, as it identifies my paintings. Many elements come from rural Bangladesh like clay-hut, muddy courtyard, bamboo fences, haystack, water, boat, human, and animal. In many of my paintings, moon plays an important role–sometime romantic, sometime cosmic, and at other times to depict the eternal and the timeless. Generally, use of mixed color is noticeable in my work; this is probably what makes my paintings identifiable in the crowded art world.

To create texture on my canvas, I use palette knife, matches-sticks, toothpicks, essentially anything I need with thick paints; sometimes I use sand, fabric, paper to get the right effect, feeling and mood. Even in my watercolors, I always try to create texture by sedimentation of paint ingredients with water, dripping, clotting, cracking, and graining on wet paper.