“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)

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 […]

Art in Quarantine (2020)

This is some of the art that I did during Grenada’s Covid-19 lockdown from March to July, 2020. I took the time to try to reflect some of the common visuals of the time in a variety of techniques and mediums.

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 […]

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 […]

Detritus in a Digital Age (2015)

I began with this work based on a call from Grenadian curator, Susan Mains. The call was for work in reference to the social flux caused by technology in Grenada. As an artist that usually identifies as a representational painter, I began by wanting to explore the way that the digital realm has affected our […]

Grenada at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015)

Grenada at the 56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia In its 41st year of independence, Grenada will take a great leap forward and be seen for the first time on the largest and oldest world stage, la Biennale di Venezia. Through the co-operation of Ministry of Culture, Grenada has been invited to […]

Diaphanous Series (2014)

Here are a few images of my recent new work. I have been trying to think of a succinct name for these pieces. I think of them as my “transparent” work, although they are not really transparent. I think of them as my “Sea Fan” series even though not all of the pieces have sea […]

Duct Tape Paintings (2014)

Here are a few of the duct tape paintings I did for my recent solo exhibition. The description is not cryptic, I used duct tape in the pieces along with spray paint and oil paint to give a mixed media (and mixed technique) approach to my subjects. I used a burner to melt designs into […]

Grafted Narratives (2014)

Grafted Narratives, Dual Show with Susan Mains – 2014 Asher Mains Our realities can only be shaped by the language we use to describe and interpret them. By expanding the vocabulary of our experiences we are rewarded with a more elusive, vibrant reality. The words we use can be limiting; in this body of work […]