A painter’s soul is hardly ever at rest. Goaded by a need to create and a desire to manifest the source of driving inspiration, an artist finds only temporary reprieve in completing a work of art before inspiration takes over once again.
Henry Asencio is an artist driven by contrasts. He hails from Santa Maria, yet his work is sought by collectors in metropolitan cities all over the world. He creates magnificent paintings of the human body in various states of contemplation, yet it’s his young daughter he cites as his greatest creation. At first glance, his paintings are a practice in naturalism, but upon closer inspection, it’s evident they’re made up of multiple abstract strokes.
Asencio loves these contrasts. But it wasn’t too long ago he was an artist with a penchant for realism and a longing to find his own artistic voice. His success has made the last decade fly by, he said, but he remembers a time when he was just on the cusp of it all: One of his paintings was listed at $1,200, and he was dubious about his first show.
“I felt bad for these people who had so much faith in me, because I didn’t think they would sell for that amount,” he said.
To his surprise, his paintings sold out—and have only climbed in value since. And as his paintings’ worth has grown, so has his mastery of technique.
Asencio takes great pride in his technique of combining aggressive brush strokes with the subdued gentle poses of his female subjects. It’s the back of her neck and the curve of her hip. Men, he said, are easier to paint in that style because their features are harmonious with his aggressive technique. In painting his female subjects he finds his greatest challenges, as well as the biggest compliments.
“A lot of times, the best compliments come from women,” he said. “They can relate to it. The models are usually in some sort of contemplation.” His portraits, he explained, aren’t glamorized, overtly sexual, or glib.
To accomplish this, Asencio blends naturalism with abstract techniques, resulting in a fusion that not only brings out the beauty of his subjects, but evokes emotions in his audiences.
“When you look at it it’s naturalism. When you get closer it’s beautiful abstract shapes,” he said.
Asencio’s use of abstract techniques is an evolution from his origins in photorealistic style, a technique he studied and practiced for much of his early career. The painter draws on his study of realism. When he needs to, but he prefers abstract techniques, because—unlike with realism—there are no guidelines, leaving the artists themselves to search for the outcome.
“You don’t know what questions are being asked, and you don’t know the answers,” he said.
In its essence, abstraction lends another level to the feel of the painting—an arbitrary chaos that blends together but stands on its own. Asencio compares the process to putting together little beautiful pieces of poetry in each section that together make up a sonnet.
“People don’t realize that all this is going on with my work, but they sense it,” he said.
The same can be said for the passion that goes into creating his works of art. Asencio explained that when he paints, he turns up the music and gets engrossed in the process. More often than not, the process is interactive.
“It starts to tell you, ‘You need to smooth it out here, texture it here, you need a sharper edge there.’ Sometimes it’s about a color. Put a red here. Sometimes it’s a green,” he said. “Sometimes it’s about space or lines. You do it long enough, you start to have a dialogue with the painting.”
The process can be physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting, he said, but a constant source of inspiration keeps him going. He finds it in women, nature, experience, and his family. As for the relationships that influenced his work, they were—of course—the ones with the most passion.
“Usually the relationships that were the most tumultuous were the most inspirational,” he said.
Asencio has lately found inspiration in exploring his Hispanic heritage.
He’s planning on an upcoming exhibition in Los Angeles featuring Aztec dancers. It’s something he’s wanted to do for a long time and a project to which he feels a deep attachment.
The artist said he recognizes how fortunate he is to be able to make a living doing what he loves. After wrapping up a recent show in Hawaii and on the eve of another in London, Asencio reflected on the early days of his art studies.
“I would’ve been excited making $30 an hour drawing cartoons,” he said.
Now his paintings sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Still, like most artists, Asencio’s need to release his creativity is stronger than the money he makes doing it.
“I just want to stay true to my philosophy and get to share with as many people as I can,” he said.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone’s need to release creativity is definitely stronger than the money she makes doing it. Send her a buck at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 5-12, 2009.