Steven Asquith’s work engages with both traditional notions of mark making and contemporary abstraction. Typically using spray chalkboard enamel, paint markers and enamel paint on paper or board, he interweaves modern materials with primitive symbolism to negate the traditional boundaries of composition, and to interrogate the manner by which images are constructed today. By collapsing these aesthetic foundations in his work, Asquith has created a unique abstract visual language to express contemporary experiences of hybrid visual cultures.
Asquith completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at RMIT in 2000. Solo exhibitions include Midnight Drone Lullaby, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, 2014; Ghosts of the thrill, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, 2011; DISCOBODYBAGBODYBAGDISCO, Revolver Project Wall, Melbourne, 2011; Storm Concepts, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, 2010; New Paintings, Don’t Come, Melbourne, 2009; Experiencing Technical Difficulties, RMIT First Site Gallery, Melbourne, 1999. Selected group exhibitions include SUB12, Substation, Melbourne, 2012; Paul Guest Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, 2012; Funeral Songs, curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, 2012; Substation Prize, Substation, Melbourne, 2011; Signal 8, The Space, Cat St Gallery Hong Kong, 2011; Detours through Abstraction, curated by Alex Baker, Arts Project Australia, Melbourne, 2011; Sydney Story Factory, Syndicate, Sydney, 2011; Freehand: recent Australian drawing, curated by Linda Michael, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2010-11; Cut ‘N’ Paste, Peleton, Sydney, 2007; Pretty Little Things, The Ship Gallery, London, 2003; First Site, Sahara, 1998. Recent collaborations include DRIPFACE with Emma Miles for GARAGE Magazine, London and published in VAULT Magazine, Melbourne, 2013; Knowing Me Knowing You with Rebecca Scibilia, Arts Project Australia, Melbourne; 2014. Asquith was a participant in an international exchange to New York in 2000 associated with the Exit Art space. He has lived and worked in New York and London and held a position at Gagosian Gallery from 2001 to 2005. He established The Ship Gallery, an artist run space in London with Dick Evans in 2003 in association with the British Arts Council and was one of the Founding Directors of Block Projects, Melbourne.
