Interview: Asnaby Samuel
Luca Curci talks with Asnaby Samuel during ANIMA MUNDI – VISIONS 2026, at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello in Venice.

Formed at the renowned Parisian studios of La Ruche and with ten years of experience in major European fashion houses, Asnaby is an internationally acclaimed artist. His career spans solo exhibitions in Tokyo, an artist residency in the USA, and representing France during the World Year of Physics with the CNRS. Today, he exhibits worldwide, exploring the relationship between ancient symbols and contemporary perception. His work seeks to reveal the forgotten aspects of history, social conflicts, and human behavior. Inspired by the legacy of New Objectivity, Asnaby moves beyond traditional realism, favoring abstract expression, stark atmospheres, and visionary imagery to reflect on the contradictions of modern society. For Asnaby, painting is both a silent language and an inner cry – an encounter between the mystical and the organic that does not require explanation to be experienced.

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
Asnaby Samuel – Art is the expression of a light that gives birth to an idea, which then takes material form. Once brought into our world, the work emits a pulse, communicating through sensation, whether it attracts, repels, or unsettles. Ideally, a work should require as few keys as possible. Art does not need to be understood; it asks to be experienced, through a communion of the whole being with the work.

LC – What’s your background? What experience influenced your work the most?
AS – My background is rooted in both artistic training and independent practice. I began painting in the early 1970s, working alongside artists such as Recalcati and Arroyo before studying sculpture at the École du Louvre in Paris. I later spent ten years as a designer in the fashion industry before dedicating myself entirely to painting. Since then, my work has been exhibited internationally, and I have continued to develop a personal artistic language centered on history, memory, and the human condition. The experience that has influenced my work the most is not a single event but the history into which I was born. Very few members of my family survived the Holocaust. All the others were murdered. I grew up with a deep attachment to real facts and from an early age I found myself looking at history not as a succession of dates, but as the force that shapes civilizations and determines what is remembered and what is erased. This awareness led me to question the narratives that societies construct about themselves. My work is driven by a desire to bring obscured historical realities back to the surface – not to illustrate history, but to reveal what has been deliberately forgotten or pushed aside. In that sense, painting is not simply a visual language; it is a form of testimony and an act of memory.

LC – Where do you find your inspiration?
AS – I do not look for inspiration in the conventional sense. My work begins with an idea rather than an image. I am inspired by history, by what societies choose to remember and what they choose to erase. I am interested in the hidden mechanisms of memory, power, and belief, and in the traces they leave behind. Each series begins with an idea that takes the form of either a question or an affirmation. Not every viewer will arrive at the same conclusion, and that is not essential. At that point, I rely on the painting itself. I trust its ability to communicate through sensation, to create attraction, unease, or distance. Even when its meaning remains unresolved, a painting can leave a lasting impression. Sometimes that distance is intentional; it invites the viewer to continue the experience rather than receive a ready-made explanation.

LC – How important is the editing process in your work? How’s yours?
AS – I would not describe my process as editing. The idea is usually clear before I begin painting.
What evolves is the painting itself. Through successive layers, additions, and removals, I search for the right balance between the idea and its visual presence. I stop when the painting has its own strength, when it no longer needs explanation to communicate something essential. So my process is less about correcting mistakes than about allowing the work to reach its own necessity.

LC – Which art themes do you pursue? What is your preferred subject, if there is any?
AS – My work explores history, memory, and the human condition. The subject changes from one series to another, but these concerns remain constant.

LC – How is being an artist nowadays?
AS – Most of my time is spent in the studio, so I pay little attention to the day-to-day workings of the art world. My focus is on painting, not on trends or the conversations surrounding them.
Because of that, I do not feel there is a fundamental difference between being an artist today and being one at the beginning of the twentieth century. The essential challenge remains the same: to create work that is honest and necessary.

LC – How did you get to your current artistic practice?
AS – My artistic practice developed gradually as I realized that every element of a painting could carry meaning, including its material. Each series begins with an idea, an affirmation, or a question. From there, I look for the material that best embodies that idea. Bitumen evokes obliteration and buried history, oil suggests poison, while acrylic often represents illusion or deception, reflecting pollution and the artificial world we have created. For me, the material is never neutral. It is part of the language of the work.

LC – Do you agree with our vision of art, and what do you think about the theme of the exhibition?
AS – Each body of work follows its own path. What I enjoy is discovering when it naturally connects with the vision of an exhibition or a curator. I was pleased that you saw that connection and invited me to participate. The work I chose was not created for this exhibition, but I felt it belonged naturally within its spirit.