Details:
① Artwork:
Placid Still & Maternal
For this painting, the artist created reference photographs that mix found photos with ephemera from her studio. Using a 4-color separation printing process, the artist screen printed her reference photographs onto the canvas, and then applied text made of pumice and acrylic to the surface. The title of this work is a quote by Edward Said. It describes the West's romanticized representation of the Orient as a place that is placid, still and eternal. Asghar changed "eternal" to "maternal," adding a component of motherhood to the dichotomy inherent in Western representation. The artist’s sophisticated work explores her American experience through a multitude of cultural motifs, mixing imagery from across cultures.
Specs:
③ Artist:
Amna Asghar's sophisticated paintings mix imagery from different cultures to create conversations between communities. Her work draws from her experience growing up in the Detroit area, popular culture ephemera from her Pakistani family, as well as currents of contemporary political thought. Asghar’s work looks to the American experience through a multitude of cultural motifs—ranging from Disney movies to the paintings of the Hudson River School.
BIO:
Amna Asghar was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1984. She holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, and a BFA from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.
Solo exhibitions of Asghar’s work include: Well Wishes at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit, Michigan; and Portals at Klaus von Nichtssagend in New York City.
Asghar’s work has been featured in Halal Metropolis, a series of exhibitions that explore the facts, fictions and the imaginaries of the Muslim population(s) in Detroit and Southeast Michigan. The artist’s work is held in the Progressive Art Collection.
Asghar was interviewed in Art in America about the artist’s solo exhibition Portals.
Asghar lives and works in Detroit, Michigan and the Bronx, New York.
