ARTIST STATEMENT

I’m passionate about celebrating beauty and life through figurative and natural imagery. Working with oil on canvas, charcoal on paper and lacquer on wood, I create works that transcend traditional, cultural and artistic boundaries. Inspired by traditional Vietnamese lacquer painting, my current work is created using multiple layers of lacquer mixed with pigment, silver and gold. Inlaying eggshell and/or mother of pearl, I finish each piece by polishing with sandpaper and water to create a rich finish. My goal is to share with the world my unique expressions of sensual and natural beauty, with skills and insights honed by intense focus and practice.

 

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Maylene Rasmussen was born in the ancient Gandharan Buddhist city of Taxila in northern Pakistan, a country where she spent most of the next half century. She is a graduate of the Florence Academy of Art in Italy, where she trained in drawing and painting in the tradition of classical realism, and also studied at the Hanoi University of Fine Arts in Vietnam, where she learned lacquer painting. A world citizen, Maylene and lived and exhibited in galleries in Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand, Jordan, Bangladesh, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda as well as in. Bethesda, MD and Santa Cruz, CA, where she currently resides.