London-based artist Yasmin Grant and her very powerful paintings first came to our attention sometime in the middle of 2023, those first encounters were, as is so often the case, on-line. Images explored and then words exchanged and a need to see more, to see the work, To see the art in real life, to dig a bit deeper. A first a studio visit that was documented on these pages during Frieze week. An artist’s studio is a very private very personal space, a studio is where the proper sense of an artist is really found – the commitment, the reality, the sense of an artist’s movement, the drips of paint, the flights, the flaws, the blood,  the sweat and sometimes the tears. That first visit to Yasmin Grant’s studio revealed a space alive with rich colour, with warm yellows, with lusciously painted golds, rich dark browns, deep dark blues that are almost but not quite the blackest of black, and there amongst the big paintings that are evolving and promise so much more, powerful sculptures and three dimensional canvas pieces, a powerful figure repeated in a number of pieces, a mysterious name painted in demanding red on the studio wall, “Zelpa”, who is Zelpa? There’s a sense that you shouldn’t ask who or what Zelpa is, that maybe you should just let things unfold in their own time. For now we’ll just invite Yasmin to be the latest artist to answer our thirteen questions, the 23rd to do so and the first this year. Thirteen questions then, twelve that we ask everyone, a thirteenth that is a little more personal… 

1: WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU DO?

I am Yasmin Grant a painter from London

2: WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?  WHERE ARE YOU MOST DAYS?

Today I am in London and most days if not travelling etc I am in my studio creating

3: WHO OR WHAT IS EXCITING YOU RIGHT NOW?

The New Year is exciting me at the moment I am looking forward to exploring new art techniques, attending new art shows and artistes as well as showing the world my art.

4: WHY DO YOU MAKE ART?

I make art because I cannot do anything else, it’s in my DNA I love it, it provides me with freedom to create. My aunt was an artist and a few other family members are artists.

5: HOW DO YOU WORK?

I work quietly and consistently.

6: TELL US ABOUT THE ART YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

I mostly identify with Abstract/Contemporary art but I love all art. Abstract art provides me with the privilege to explore always discovering new techniques and ways of working to be able to create the art I want to is an honour I adore.

7: WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR OWN WORK?

I like the colours or lack of and textures used in my art sometimes the complexity of what I have created.

8: WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOUR OWN WORK?

There is nothing I dislike about my work except when I create a piece and end up not liking it for one reason or another and having to re create it. However, once I do the piece can turn out to be something even more interesting than when I first created it very pleasing when this happens.

9:  WHAT HAS BEEN THE HAPPIEST MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE SO FAR?

The happiest moment so far is when I can close my studio door to begin creating.

10: WHAT MAKES YOU ANGRY?

What makes me angry ( smiles ) Injustice.

11: WHICH SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO HAVE AND WHY?

My superpower would be that women were in charge every day all day. Why? Because I see females as being superior beings that would bring peace to this world.

12: WHAT COULDN’T YOU DO WITHOUT?

I could not do without a paintbrush, paints, or not being able to create.
13:  WHO IS ZELPA?

Aghhh, Zelpa is a character I created using 2D and 3D art she is a female character that comes from a world that is run purely by women a strong and Dominant female that resides in Zelpaverse…

Do like the idea of starting the new year with an exciting new artist answering our (sometimes light-hearted, sometimes a little more serious) thirteen questions, well Yasmin is relatively new to us anyway, we’re looking forward to more lf Yasmin’s rich paint in 2024, her work excites me (sw) 

Yasmin Grant 

Mixtape No.6 / What We Did inThe Summer

Previously on these pages – ORGAN: Frieze Week – A visit to Yasmin Grant’s London studio. Yasmin is an exciting artist, her work alive with colour, rich in texture…

Do please click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show