Simone Asia
Simone Asia was born in 1990 in Barbados. Simone completed her Associate Degree in Applied Arts (Visual Arts) and a Bachelor of Fine Art in Studio Art (BFA, Hons) at Barbados Community College.
Her initial interest in art originated in images found in the Encyclopedias at home where she would rummage through the pages, developing a love for portraiture, anatomy and plants. She would then draw on blank sections of those beloved books. This was followed by an obsession with Asian culture, specifically Japanese manga and anime, which resulted in her name change in 2016 as an ode and acknowledgement of her inspiration.
Asia is best known for her detailed pen and ink line drawings which increasingly include a highly sensitive use of colour. Her recent work has also incorporated collage that embodies a fusion of shapes, designs and textures in which she explores ideas of the self.
She has participated in a number of important residencies including Alice Yard in Trinidad and Tobago, Ateliers ’89 in Aruba, Projects and Space Barbados, Fresh Milk and Punch Creative Arena based in Barbados. In 2016, Simone won the Central Bank Governor’s award presented by the National Cultural Foundation.
She currently teaches Drawing part-time in the Associate’s Degree at Barbados Community College and is a partner for Punch Creative Arena.
For me, there is a curiosity to see beyond the surface and explore the interior - what tends to be invisible or seem intangible - a process of conjuring ghosts and facing them. I have developed a ritual of recording my dreams and personal thoughts through writing. In order to develop a new drawing. I take excerpts and key dream symbols from my journal that are pertinent to my waking life.
I want to create an intimate experience for the viewer to become entranced or lost; engulfed by the complexity but open to try and decode and understand for themselves. Internal feelings made manifest externally, opening up a portal to another realm of emotional landscapes. The way I connect and merge imagery and patterns reflects the way my thoughts are processed in my brain - random, scattered and juxtaposed but all interlinked.
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The Brighton Storeroom copyright 2021