"Civilizations are measured through cultural achievements such as literature, art, theater and architecture," said Kuwaiti formative artist Mahmoud Ashkanani during the opening of his "Conversations in Color" exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Platform. He said fine arts are one of such pillars that are highly valued and respected adding that throughout the course of his career, by way of local and international ventures, he has sought to evolve his work.

Ashkanani said that as the development of his ongoing practice, his focus of the current artistic process is the result of continuous experimentation in techniques that have led him today to total abstraction. The colors in his work are used as a form of language, each with its own history and insight, shaped through fifty years of experience and understanding. "Interpreting my work isn't as vague as it may seem at first. As the viewer stands in front of my paintings, they can move into their depth with open contemplation. They can be read as a while and as a collection of reductive worlds through which revelations of color are formed," he added.

The observer can find themselves in the position of deciphering and reconstructing the colors on the canvas, drawing connotations inherent in the depths of the work and interpreting it through their own sensibility. The distinction of color at times helps increase the tension and contrasts within the piece, applied by way of smaller fragments and in their interaction throughout the composition as a whole. This allows for different visualizations within the same paintings, a perpetual shift in perspective harmonized by the eye and mind. Constantly interacting with all these elements individually and as a whole inherently generates an aesthetic formula. Through this process, the painting reveals its artistic truth, explained Ashkanani.