Ashley Collins

Why this artist matters now

Ashley Collins is an American Contemporary Painter. Collins's massive scaled paintings are found in blue chip collections and museums worldwide. Her painful and lengthy journey from homelessness and abject poverty to acclaimed painter informs meaning into each of her deeply layered works. Collins is known in part for taking exhibitions to a new level, such as floating 8’x10’ works off of 50’ cranes and using fire, water and other elements as part of her exhibitions. Her journey from rags to riches has been one of the most successful, in American Art, and her international recognition has soared. Although painting professionally since 1988, Collins first came to blue chip collector attention in the early 2000s for her massive scaled contemporary works integrating portions of figurative horseheads amongst layers of collage, historical documents, steel, metal, and other mediums which Collins integrated into her monumental works; breaking price points for living female contemporary painters. “Collins has gone from being homeless and sleeping on concrete floors in pursuit of Artistic Success – and she has surely achieved it, her mega scale paintings including horse imagery [sic] command eye watering prices.” Robert Rauschenberg, upon seeing her works, quoted "through her eyes and vision I have seen the pain, the confidence and sturgggle of my own journey and perhaps that is what in art touches us all".

Source: Artsy · Trust score: 85% · Updated 1mo ago