HENRY ASENCIO

Asencio's open brushwork, sweeping color, use of texture and precise drawing has resulted in a body of work that has earned him international accolades. In 1996, Asencio's career was sponsored by the Thayer and Chandler art supply company, resulting in International exposure with exhibitions in France and Germany. In 1998, Asencio's work was recognized in the Amsterdam Art Competition. Earning the prestige of being a first-time artist dually awarded with both gold and silver medals in two separate divisions, he was acknowledged for his self portrait in oil and a figurative work in the acrylic medium.

Asencio graduated with honors from the San Francisco Art Academy in 1998. He was a chosen finalist in an Artist's Magazine competition that same year, for his work in portraiture. Although he earned a living as a portrait artist early in his career, today Asencio is enjoying the freedom to create mood and a personal aesthetic.

The artist is naturally drawn to paint the human figure because of its timeless sensitivity. Noted for the sensual vitality of his work, Asencio endeavors to extract the essence of a mood and create work that is striking and simple yet one that also sustains its integrity through subtlety.

He has recently begun to paint on board, as the surface is more resilient to his aggressive paint style. The artist prefers to work in oil since "nothing compares to the richness and workability of the oil medium and it fits my technique perfectly."

He frequently works with live models or photographs. Asencio applies the thick paint with a palette knife thereby using a traditional painting style and making it into his own, signature style.

A native of California, today the artist lives and works in his studio near San Jose.

Asencio proclaims admiration for artists who have chosen their own path, those who are inspired to follow their muse. And it is this path that he has chosen for himself as a fine artist. Inspired by the works of British artist Lucien Freud, the unrelenting passion of Picasso, Wilhem de Kooning, Gustav Klimt.

Using life as source for his art, and art as sustenance for his life, Asencio's translates earthly impulse into reality on canvas

Exclusively represented in Charleston by Charles II Art Gallery