ASH ON ART AND HIS WORK

I think the treatment that the so called non-western artists through out the history of modern, and contemporary art has been harsh or should I say disgraceful. The art history is written by the western historians, who even deny that other cultures had made any art at all before the 20th century. Art history has been monopolized by writers whose western-centred views have resulted in the marginalization of the art of the other societies, often labelled as non-western.

Where some of the greatest western artists like, Picasso, Braque, Gauguin, Ernst, Klee and so on, took from the art of the other societies, they were often said to be powerfully inspired by a motif or idea they had borrowed from another culture. In contrast, where artists from other societies took from the western culture they were widely dismissed as copying weakly.

The funny thing is that these artists even within their own societies were accused of lacking national identity and the sad part of it is, that is still the trend.

What I have to say to these fools is that, art does not have nationality, it does not speak in English, French or Persian, art is an individual practice rather than an expression of a community as a whole. In a global society in which the individual is an autonomous subject, a historically significant art can not be produced by a theory that predetermines its specific cultural framework

As an artist I do not follow any particular style of painting as I would not like to imprison myself within the walls of ISMS ! I like the freedom to express myself in any way that I desire . and that is what makes my paintings very different from each other . So different , I have been accused of being experimental at times , which I am , because I believe that you are as good as dead as an artist when stop experimenting.

In art everything is theory, nothing is concrete. Color , for example, is itself such enigmatic element in the feeling it gives us which can be different from person to person and in different parts of the world .

Of course there are rules in painting but in my opinion the logic of the eye is more important than the logic of the brain, and once you succumb to the logic of the brain, you will take the life, flow, purity, imagination and every thing that is special about art, out of your work.