Artist Spotlight: Ashely Foreman Interview

Jocelyn Tannenbaum | July 23, 2016

When it comes to art there is no black and white answer. iEDM recently had the pleasure to speak with Ashely Foreman, the artist of “I Know That Language.”

Ashely stated in her interview that art is a journey and that it is a process of listening to the painting and what wants to come out. As most artists know, there is not a point A and point B to the process of creating art. The painting originally started as an acrylic painting that was an entirely different picture. It depicted a little boy with angels but after traveling to Europe she knew that it wasn’t finished. She learned a new painting technique and then proceeded to paint over the original painting, thus creating a new work of art entirely.

When we asked her if she felt this was the most successful painting she had thus far, her response was unique. “Sometimes I feel like this is the painting that haunts me. I definitely achieved something there that I have wanted to try to replicate, and you just can’t do it on purpose.”

All her artwork sells, but it’s hard to recreate success to a certain magnitude. It’s always the one piece that comes naturally that ends up being the most successful and most well-known.

The inner child energy from the painting is what she claims is what makes it speak to so many people.

“I wasn’t feeling that much love from the universe I knew that it was love, but I just wasn’t feeling it," Foreman said.

At the time, she was living with her friend Diane, Diane's grandma, and Diane's daughter while she was finishing her degree. The daughters name was Serene.

“She was so magical, like pure love. She radiated that love and we would hang out and make art together," Foreman said.

While trying to finish the painting she couldn’t get the hands of the little boy right, and the scales weren’t right. In the midst of it, Serene just walks in and goes, “I know that language, that’s Namaste.”

Immediately Ashely called her back in the room and asked permission to paint her. She began to paint over the little boy knowing that Serene was meant to be in the painting instead.

We at iEDM are proud to feature this artwork on many clothing styles, from shorts to hoodies.