Avaneesh Ashok

Artist Statement

I think a lot about life.

I have spent a large part of my life drawing, painting, observing
and experimenting with different ways of making an image. Over
time, I have realised that what interests me most is not one
particular medium or style, but the space between what I see,
what I imagine and what I feel.

At this stage of my practice, my work mainly moves in two
directions.

The first begins inside me. Some works start with an image, idea
or feeling that I can already see in my mind. Others appear while
I am drawing or painting, almost as if my hand knows something
before I consciously do. Figures, colours, spaces, gestures and
compositions can emerge through intuition, feeling and
experimentation. I don't always know where the work is going
when I begin—and sometimes that is exactly what makes making it
exciting.

The second begins with the world around me. I look at places,
objects, people, shadows and small moments of everyday life,
often things that we normally pass without noticing. My muted
watercolor works come from this way of looking. I use restrained
colours, loose strokes and the character of the paper because I
don't want to force the image to become more dramatic than the
thing itself. I enjoy st...