MAHSSA ASKARI

Mahssa Askari (*1980 in Khoramshahr) studied in Product Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Aachen from 2002 to 2005. After graduation, she enrolled in the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf, where she studied painting under Herbert Brandl (2014 Diploma and Master Student). She lives and works in Düsseldorf.

With the help of various layers of semitransparent colour, Mahssa Askari creates an equally unusual painterly tension. Her motifs are, for the most part, quite classic – but nevertheless subjected to an enigmatic reinterpretation. In many cases, her paintings are reminiscent of film sequences. Memory is confronted with fantasy, figuration with abstraction, rigid forms with spontaneous gesture. The static is juxtaposed with movement and what in one moment appears to be clear and structured is suddenly vague and blurred. ‘The impressions oscillate between nature and architecture, between interior and exterior,‘ the painter explains. In almost all her pictures, the human figure takes centre stage – albeit always without recognizable facial features. The viewer searches in vain for individuals. Perspectives shift so that, when viewing the images, one is forced to constantly readjust one’s gaze. More than anything else, Askari is interested in converging the painterly surface and the play of light that emerges out of the colours, as well as in amalgamating memory and fantasy. ‘Everything else,’ Askari argues, ‘is up to the viewer.’

Solo Exhibitions (selection):

Group Exhibitions (selection):