Page 8 - Rita Asfour 2016 Coffee Table Book_Neat
P. 8
lured by the Southland’s color! In November of 1965 Rita was married in Las Vegas and chose to sign moment. They always marveled on how her hand flowed smoothly on the canvas to draw the correct
her work from this time forward as Rita Asfour. proportions of the women she painted. And it was her courage to start and finish a painting without
any physical sketches that amused them. But in reality she must have had these sketches created and
stored in her grey matter. In her studio Rita didn’t feel the weight of the masters from history looking
“Oh I’m On My Way I Know I Am” over her shoulder as she worked. Rita was one with the studio.
The French artist Sam Markitante mentored Rita for a little over two years (1968-1970). Markitante
had “retired” to Santa Monica but tutored a small number of selected students in his Southern Califor- The Malibu years were a very productive time for Rita. Her body of work grew beyond family and
nia studio. Markitante, primarily a landscape artist, was particularly impressed by Rita’s figural skills friends as she embraced such subjects as children, ballet dancers, figural studies, still life, landscapes,
and, in lieu of paying for art lessons, guided his newest student in exchange for her help of placing seascapes, and nudes. Rita was very happy in Malibu and blossomed in her studio sanctuary.
figures in his landscapes.
Rita’s growing confidence in her artistic gift inspired the artist to open Galerie Camille (1970-72) in “Just Keep On Pushing Hard Boy, Try As You May
Beverly Hills, California. Galerists purchased Rita’s work in sufficient quantity so as to sell her work You’re Going To Wind Up Where You Started From”
throughout the United States and abroad. Galerie Camille closed in 1972 as Rita became pregnant With Amber growing into a mature young woman, Rita decided to leave the damp, aqueous environ-
with Amber. At this point in time, the artist decided to embrace her Armenian heritage and chose ment that was Malibu (1982-2012) for the dryness of the Southern Nevada desert. In 2012, Rita Asfour
to stay home to raise her daughter. Rita moved to Malibu in 1982 where she was able to not only raise moved to Las Vegas. There is actually more to her decision to move to Las Vegas than just the dryer
Amber but to have her own studio as well which looked out to the Pacific Ocean and the lush vegeta- climate. Actually, Rita had been married in Las Vegas in November 1965. The decision was, in many
tion of Southern California. ways, going back to where she “started from”. As Rita became more and more settled and acclimated
to Las Vegas, the artist seriously contemplated the notion of “retiring” from painting. For an artist the
idea of “turning off” the “gift” is a formidable challenge. Shortly after arriving in Las Vegas from Mal-
“Malibu Studio” ibu, Rita took in a production of Jubilee at Bally’s Casino. The light of Rita’s “gift” was rekindled! The
Rita’s Malibu studio was a very personal place/space for this artist. With the skill set fully developed artist had found a new source for her creative eye to scan and the notion of retiring from painting was
now and obeying the artist’s command, the studio became an isolated environment both sheltering summarily dismissed. As Rita immersed herself in the dazzling display of dancing figures, the enter-
and enabling Rita to understand the deep recesses of herself; in essence the artist was now sanctioned tainment venue’s array of lights and colors mixed with the syncopated rhythms of music sparked the
and authorized to paint what she wished for which resided deep within. This artist was not driven by artist’s inner need or drive to create and she knew this drive had to be satisfied. Rita was thoroughly
monetary success or notoriety. She looked out the windows of her Malibu studio and those percep- bedazzled by what her eyes---those artist’s eyes--- saw! In order to respond to this astonishing specta-
tive eyes took in the splendor of the Pacific Ocean and the Southern California landscape. Her vision cle before her, Rita incorporated a mixed media approach informing her brush-strokes with powerful
“belonged to her” because “she created them out of her imagination.” Rita’s creative efforts made her reflected surfaces. Rita’s eyes were bedazzled and the “doors” to her mind and hands were, once again,
happy, she was fulfilled! opened to new opportunities of expression.
Rita’s studio was not messy. She didn’t work from a set time schedule. There were no certain hours.
She refused to be bound by routine. She did not embrace any one particular style, template or aesthetic Robert Tracy, Ph.D., Associate AIA
although she was drawn to the freshness and spontaneity of the French Impressionists. As an artist, Associate Professor of Art and Architecture History
Rita was first and foremost curious. She was driven by what her eyes took in. Rita worked fast. Her Curator
energy was pounded by impatience. She didn’t work from sketches. Resolving aesthetic compositional College of Fine Arts
choices was both a mental and a formal exercise of the eye and hand. As images floated in her head, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Rita’s gift-set empowered her to capture them directly on the canvas. There seemed to be in Rita “a
race to put down her strokes before the vision she has is impacted by the phone ringing or the cats me-
owing or the dogs barking or the pot boiling.” Once the idea has been fixed into visible shape or form,
Rita would then go back in for “finishing touches” with the brush. Rita told me she “knew” when the
work was done---she just “knew”---the artist never agonized over the issue of when to stop making her
marks on the canvas.
Like most artists Rita preferred to work in her studio alone and in solitude but that personal seclusion
and isolation was not always possible. Family would often be present during the Malibu years. Some
remember vividly being impressed by the choreography of her movements when she was in the creative
