Amela Rasi
Salvation II
72-HOUR EDITION DROP: AMELA RASI | SALVATION II
17-20 JANUARY
2024 | 6-6 PM CET
SALVATION II by Amela Rasi is part of a duo of paintings depicting the beginning and end moments of the redemption process. The first work is about the desire for redemption, and the second work is about the moment of redemption itself. The dispersion and the use of the figures on the canvas reflect this process.
In SALVATION II, the protagonist takes up almost the whole space on the canvas and displaces the second figure that surrounds it. The work symbolizes the realization and insight that change and redemption can only take place if we initiate them ourselves. The growth of the main character is also an indication of the growing self-confidence that comes with redemption. The evanescence of the surrounding figure represents the disappearance and futility of what the main character wanted to redeem itself from.
ABOUT THE SIGNATURE
Each edition comes hand-signed by the artist via a numbered and signed Certificate of Authenticity on the back of the print.
ABOUT THE 72-HOUR EDITION DROP
The 72-HOUR EDITION DROP is a concept that allows artists to sell an unlimited amount of physical editions within the limited time frame of 72 hours on EXPANDED.ART. Each 72-HOUR EDITION DROP edition is available for 72 hours only, then never again.
ABOUT THE EDITION NUMBER
The editions are numbered randomly, i.e., the edition number is not chronologically assigned to the time of order receipt. All 72-HOUR EDITION DROP prints are made to order. Each artwork will be produced specifically for each client; therefore, the artwork is not eligible for return.
Born in 1986 in Saarbrücken, Germany, Amela Rasi lives and works as a visual artist in Munich. As the daughter of migrants from former Yugoslavia, she grew up bilingual, under the influence of two different cultures. Her life has taken place between Germany and Bosnia. This experience has had a particularly strong influence on the content of her current work.
Painting was introduced to Rasi as a child by her artist father, whereas her mother taught her about fabrics and sewing. Since then, creating, and especially painting, has been an integral part of her life and her favorite form of expression. In her current work, she incorporates the skills she got from both parents. In her youth, she preferred to deal with oil paintings and motifs from nature.
During her sociology studies at the University of Trier, the visual arts continued to be an important part of her everyday life. After obtaining her diploma, she married and took care of her three children from 2014 to 2019. During this time, she also started to market and sell her work in a manageable but considerable environment. Since 2017, Rasi has started to use different materials and has taken new, abstract paths to express herself in a painterly way. After her parental leave in 2020, Rasi expanded her circle of customers to the international market, like the USA, New Zealand, Emirates, Sweden, etc. In 2021, she started working with galleries, art advisors, and interior design studios.
DANCES OF IDENTITY: SALVATION II
AMELA RASI: ABSTRACT EXPLORATION OF HUMAN CONNECTION
Imge Turan Täschner: Were there any significant experiences that influenced your desire to be an artist?
Amela Rasi: I firmly believe that we all have the need to express, in our own way, how we see the world and how we feel about our daily lives. Like most children, I expressed my everyday life with my family, my surroundings, and my thoughts and emotions through drawing and painting. I suppose I´ve never stopped doing it. But I was lucky to have parents who supported my creative processes when I was younger.
ITT: Growing up bilingual is a unique aspect of your background. How does language, or the interplay of languages, influence your artistic expression?
AR: I think that it was not so much the fact of being bilingual that had and still has an influence on my personal development and my work. Rather, there is a greater meaning behind it. My parents left their home country and built a life in an environment that was unfamiliar to them. In which they first had to get to know the new language, habits and culture. My sister and I grew up in Germany, as well as in Bosnia. As a family, it's like living in limbo. You experience and learn the language, culture, conventions and much more that your parents pass on to you, how they learned and experienced them, and at the same time you learn and live the peculiarities of the environment.
This made me sensitive to observing and trying to understand human behavior and different ways of thinking. I often notice that I tend to weigh up situations, observe them from different perspectives and not take them for granted.
ITT: What does your artistic process look like? How do you select and work with the materials to achieve the effects you aim for?
AR: In my case, the painting process is always preceded by a question. I notice a behavior or question an emotion, mostly in myself but also in the people I surround myself with, and I want to understand that. I then like to talk to family and friends about it, ask them questions, read, and take notes. After I've dealt with it, I usually have a clear idea of how I want to present the interaction. When it comes to materials and colors, I have to say that I like to interpret meaning into the presentation and use of my materials. For me, a good way is to try out and experiment with different techniques of applying paint, different canvases, brushes, and the intensity of working with these materials.
ITT: Your series IDENTITY reflects your personal experiences and those of others in the search for identity. How are these experiences translated into your paintings?
AR: My series IDENTITY was very much influenced by personal experiences of the search for national identity. Experiences from like-minded people confirmed the feeling of identity confusion that often comes with growing up between two cultures. At that time, I still saw the development of an identity as a continuous, linear, and straight path, which is exactly how I illustrated it in my paintings.
ITT: How do you approach the visual representation of identity in your abstract artwork?
AR: Visually, I see a person's identity as an ongoing, ever-evolving, and growing cycle of experiences and encounters.
ITT: What do the colors signify in the context of the topic identity?
AR: I certainly try to reflect a certain mood, depending on which emotion I'm dealing with in the work. Basically, I always have a color tone, which also results from my own mood, which I use for many paintings in the same series. I find it very interesting to interpret the same color in different ways.
ITT: How has the series evolved over time, particularly with the shift to THE MERGING OF TWO IDENTITIES"? What prompted this change in focus?
AR: The question of national identity has haunted me for so many years. Even when I tried to get over it, I was constantly reminded that the question of national identity plays a major role, even if unconsciously, for a large part of the population.
Over time, I was tired of it, and I no longer wanted to let this very question determine my life so much. I realized that so many other experiences and roles that we take on in our everyday lives, as well as our constant exchange with other people, also determine our identities. My focus therefore shifted from a linear individual representation of an identity to the interactions between two people and, thus, the merging, if only for a moment, of two identities with all their differences and distinctiveness.
ITT: How do you navigate the balance between personal narratives and the universal themes of identity in your artwork?
AR: I think I can't do it. I'm not very good at expressing myself and creating beyond my own experience and perspective.
ITT: What role do you see social media playing in the overall promotion and development of your artistic endeavors?
AR: I have a very skeptical relationship with social media. I still find it very disconcerting to share parts of my work process or private moments with people I don't know personally. And yet this instrument is a great help in presenting your own work in a very simple way.
ITT: How do you see your artistic style evolving in the future? Are there new themes or techniques you're eager to explore?
AR: I already have so many topics in my head and in my notebook that I want to work on in the future. I certainly won't leave the field of painting, but I would also like to try to implement certain ideas using other materials. I wish there were more hours in the day or that I had more arms so I could do more at once.