more about him
I was influenced by the older members of my family, many of whom were artists, teachers, engineers and scientists. My grandfather often took me to the Prado Museum in Madrid where he introduced me to the great masters – Velazquez, El Greco, Goya, Murillo, Tisian and Ribera.
I have come to understand many of my grandfather’s teachings – like how Velazquez was the painter of the air – or more practical skills like how to clean a brush, use a pen or make an outstanding point on a graphite pencil. These have since become the tools of my trade.
after travelling to South America on holiday, I fell in love with Venezuela. I married and eventually made my home in Maracaibo, the second largest city after Caracas. More recently I was Professor in the Faculty of Art at Maracaibo’s Zulia University where I taught drawing.
the worsening economic and political climate in Venezuela meant my family and I decided to leave Venezuela and fly to Madrid, where I was born. We had to leave behind our house, jobs, friends, and almost all of our possessions – including my studio, easel, many of my canvases, sculptures, art books and other works. If I needed any justification, perhaps it was when the security guards at Caracas airport confiscated my paint brushes. They were deemed to be dangerous weapons!
I married the girlfriend of my youth and I am now established again in Europe, living between Devon and Madrid working on new themes that you will find in this webpage.
my skills
Painting
My favourite medium is oil, whether on canvas, paper, wood or board. As a painter, I portray a surrealistic vision of life through art.
Sculpture
For me, sculpture is a form of multi-dimensional drawing.
Illustration
My first formal paid work was as a writer of comic scripts for Chiqui de la Fuente, one of the most famous Spanish illustrators.
Drawing
Is the form of visual art that I have studied and practiced the most. Drawing has given me the most recognition from art critics and fellow artists.
testimonials
The art of portraiture has always been a specific vocation, and in Fernando Asián’s case it shows a deep interest that is both anthropological and aesthetic in nature...
Each of his portraits is like an act of trust in the human condition and its ability to be self -sufficient.
Asian certainly isn’t an artist to limit himself to the safe confines of his magisterial pen and ink drawings. Rather he is always keen to explore themes and techniques, bringing to life some of his previously disconnected symbols in a single work, whilst placing images from the European tradition into a tropical setting.
The quality and transparency of his drawings is amazing.
He draws with the finest of lines, weaving them into a web of myriad threads with the artistry of a goldsmith.
What appear to be disjointed elements of his drawing actually come together in secret and poetic ways that the artist has woven with the stealth of a magician.
Without doubt Asian is one of the stars of the so-called Zulian school of Latin American painting. During the seventies this group of young men stunned the whole American continent with the originality and variety of their style, and with their knowledge, understanding and dedication. It was an era full of future great masters. In drawing, above all others, Fernando Asian excelled.
Asian has a fine-tuned sensitivity and the discipline of his work gives him the maturity needed to achieve complex results by simple means. His knowledge of art history, artists and paintings, undeniably his domain, together with his absolute capacity for work, puts him well on the way to achieving these valuable goals.
CONTACT INFORMATION
LATEST ACTIVITIES
The Brownstom Gallery
Exhibition FERNANDO ASIANIMAGINATION IS REALITY PRIVATE VIEW – THE BROWNSTON GALLERY, MODBURY, DEVON. […]
Available Works
AVAILABLE Works OBRA DISPONIBLE Original Ink Drawings and Giclée Fine art digital […]
Artmill Gallery
In the autumn of 2019 two of Asián´s pen and ink drawings were exhibited in Plymouth´s Artmill Gallery in Devon.
Cobalto Art Academy
Invited by his friend, the teacher and Doctor in Art, Emmanuel Luna, founder of Cobalto, Asián also held two «conversations with» their students on creativity in art.