“Opacité” – 6th Grenada Contemporary

“… restoring liberating, catalysing, and dangerous power to the object, that he gives back the profaned object its dignity of mystery and its radiant force…” Aimé Césaire, Calling the Magician, Haiti-Journal (20 May 1944) on Andre Breton My work for the 6th Grenada Contemporary, based on Aimé Césaire’s, “Calling the Magician” takes a step beyond […]

Empathy of Place: Carriacou’s Shakespeare Mas. 59th Biennale di Venezia, Grenada National Pavilion (2022)

Working with several other artists from Grenada over the past year as Cypher Art Collective, I am introducing this work as part of a local embodiment of long-term work of mine, Empathy of Place. I believe that the objects around us and the environment we live in contribute, poetically, to our identities. Further, the act […]

Sea Lungs at the 14th Bienal de la Habana (2022)

Grenada Pavilion Expo Dubai 2020 (2021)

In 2021, Susan Mains Gallery curated work for the World Expo 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This is a short video of me talking about my work, Sea Lungs, and the Masked Women series.

Tumble Figures (2020 – 2021)

Here is a collection of work that came out of the life drawing sessions at Art House 473. I moved to working on canvas and domestic as I was unsatisfied with the amount of paper I was using for our short poses (45 seconds, 5, and 10 minutes). I started trying to capture all of […]

Early Surrealist Drawings (1999)

These are some drawings I had done around 1999. I would have been 15. I’m not sure that I remember exactly what these may have been inspired by other than thinking through forms and surfaces. There was definitely an embrace of speculative potentials in these drawings/drawings of sculptures/installations. Enjoy these throwbacks of a very different […]

Poetic Architecture (2020)

This body of work is a starting point to launch further lines of inquiry regarding interpreting, producing, and consuming art in a dialogic mode as an initial premise. Poetic Architecture is about a philosophy of relation. More will be posted after the opening on Friday, February 21st! Poetic Architecture Asher Mains A Philosophy […]

Burning Beach/You Are Here (2019)

Burning Beach/You Are Here installation for the 5th Grenada Contemporary Exhibit 2019 at Art House 473, presented by Susan Mains Gallery. Glissant’s description of the burning beach is sober and chilling. He describes the sand, sun, and sea in almost lyrical prose, encapsulating a visitor’s vision of the beach before adding in his own sentiment […]

“Vanitas” Series (2019)

This series, enamel on paper and enamel on ripstop is just a little exploration into an element that is included in many Northern Renaissance paintings called “Vanitas” that is intended to remind us of our mortality. This “Memento Mori” type of series plays with that reminder of mortality and at time feels like it is […]

J’ouvert Series (2019)

Begun after Spicemas (Grenada Carnival) 2019, this series mines the beauty of J’ouvert – the oil covered, early Monday morning street party of Carnival. While the beauty of fancy mas or “pretty mas” is apparent – all of the work by the designers and costume builders have already been done. I am interested in the […]

Sea Lungs: New Iterations (2019)

After the 8 pieces that made up the installation Sea Lungs was stolen in Venice at the end of 2017 by Omar Donia, I am recreating the series from the stencils I still have. The recreation of this series is like pulling the pieces through time and space and reclaiming them. It is at times […]

Art House 473 (2019)

A considerable amount of my time an energy in 2018 and so far in 2019 has been getting Art House 473 off the ground! In a partnership with Susan Mains and Susan Mains Gallery, we have bought what used to be a Pentecostal church in the heart of Calliste to use as an art centre […]

Burnt Cube 2018

In LaLuna’s “Enchanted Forest”, a space made available to artists in Grenada to install sculptures and land art, I see it as a contemplative space. My contribution, “Burnt Cube” is entirely contemplative and designed to play with the way we view natural spaces. The cube “frames” parts of the wooded area from all directions. The […]

“Tower” 2018

“History a forgotten, insomniac night; History and elemental awe are always our early beginning, because the fate of poetry is to fall in love with the world, in spite of History.” Derek Walcott in his Nobel lecture, The Antilles: Fragments of Epic Memory, explores the diverse lineage of the Caribbean through vivid imagery and the […]

Drowned Still Lifes (2018)

Still lifes as a tradition in painting have been used to represent a certain quality of life. By extension in art history they serve to show what someone was able to obtain and thus communicates to the viewer what sort of person they were. People have always used objects and symbols to stand in […]

Lionfish for Hurricane Relief

***Update*** Since I started doing these in September I have made 60 Lionfish raising over $3,000EC! Thank you for your support of this project and for the people that need it in Barbuda and Dominica. 100% of the money taken in goes towards relief efforts and as an artist, these lionfish have enabled me to […]

Grenada National Pavilion, 57th Biennale di Venezia

http://www.grenadavenice.org Sea Lungs – Statement We are inextricable from the sea. In an island environment, not only does it sustain us economically but also physiologically. This close relation is at the heart of “Sea Lungs”; imagining that the sea fans that wash up on the beach and resemble our own cardiovascular and pulmonary systems are […]

Sea Lungs (2014 – present)

Context As someone who has grown up in the island environment, particularly Grenada, it is apparent how crucial our connection to the sea is. Whether the sea is feeding us or attracting visitors, we are in constant dialogue with and our health and well-being is in constant relation to the sea. The Sea Fans (Gorgonians) […]

Bolivia Residency and Exhibit (2016)

Grenadian Artist Excels in International Contemporary Art Following a landmark year of accomplishment in contemporary art, not just for Grenada, but for the region and internationally, Asher Mains continues his studio and research practice in Bolivia from April to May this year. Mains is primarily a painter but in recent years has expanded his […]

Society: Cocoa (2016)

Society: Cocoa New Work by Asher Mains For centuries people and societies have sought after gold. For personal wealth and for the stability of society the pursuit of gold is a large chapter in the history of the Western world. Even today, the gold standard backs some of the world’s currency. When gold could not […]