Ash Roberts has an enduring connection to the natural world, which is rooted in her childhood, having learned its artistry from her parents, who worked in landscape design. “It’s a very poetic sensibility or way to live. To observe how a garden grows over time, and to witness how it all comes together,” says Roberts. “You learn early on that nature is the best metaphor.”
With an ethereal color palette, Roberts’ work evokes that of impressionists, in the way she conveys the sensation of nature’s transience, rather than the literal objects before her. She is also interested in further iterations of the ideas, techniques and colors put forth by Monet – in particular, the abstract expressionist paintings of Joan Mitchell, who responded to the same sliver of landscape in Giverny that Monet painted, many decades later.
The work of Helen Frankenthaler and the Color Field painters of the 1960s and 70s have also been influential to Roberts, whose paintings feature large swaths of uninterrupted color – a melange of different tones which seem, suddenly, to crystallize into areas of figuration: a flower, leaf or lily pad appearing from the depths. Whilst the landscape as a subject has prevailed over many centuries, Roberts’ exploration is rooted in the current moment, where nature and politics have become entangled, and the natural world is in flux, if not decline.
Recent developments have seen the artist incorporate gold leaf, either as an all-over wash or as an accent. Making reference to the Japanese technique of Kintsugi and the philosophy of Wabi Sabi, these pieces explore ideas of beauty, value and imperfection. “My work is about nature, or rather, the ephemeral things in nature – the fleeting experiences that only last a certain time, or that you can’t quite articulate in words.”
Roberts lives and works in Los Angeles, painting in a light-filled studio in Koreatown. Having studied at Otis College of Art and Design, recent collaborations include a project with Rowse (2023), and a commission by Festen Architecture for a 300 sq ft mural, which is on view in Soho, NYC.
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