Into the Mind of the Painter
Solo Exhibition
Metro Arts, Brisbane
Nov 22 - Dec 3 2011
“the HEART, by way of the BREATH, to the LINE”
(Charles Olson 1950 Black Mountain College)
An exhibition of paintings by Pamela Asai exploring gesture, rhythm, motif and the mark, these largely non-figurative works inspired by literature, poetry, emotion and memory are teamed with selections from the painter’s diary.
Together with quotations from other artists, critics, writers and poets, these texts offer a unique glimpse into the artistic process and the opportunity, when placed alongside the canvases, to enter ‘into the mind of the painter’.
Steeped in the traditions of mid-twentieth century American painting and inspired and challenged by Cy Twombly, Asai’s art is concerned with the physical act of painting as a direct conduit from the unarticulated self.
Like a seismograph, Asai’s lines, scratches, spots, blots and slashes, register private meaning through a personal visual language. As such, these paintings are a celebration of the moment of creation; a movement from the heart, via the breath and the hand, to the canvas – painterly evidence of the synthesis of mind, emotion and the body.