Asma Akber is a self-taught painter--- this is not at all a proper introduction for a creative personality. Her umbilical cord with art has seemingly been intact since her childhood. She is simultaneously a non-objective, non-figurative and naturist painter. Asma's themes and approaches are closely connected to physiological experiments. She has also added illusion and emotion to her paintings. Her use of colours is thick, expressive and nostalgic. Her paintings are splendid in terms of her personal techniques and in creating the effects of shade and essence of nature. She mainly gets inspiration from the power of imagination which she has nurtured in her soul over a large span of periods. She truly feels life, eternal truths of time and reminiscence of her childhood days. She gets the exact meaning of life from experiences and observations.

Asma Akber builds up her lines, forms and compositions in an individual mode. She has meticulously gone through various phases of experimentation with colours, textures, lines, and tones. The artist always feels that paintings are an appearance of the thoughts, the inner world and what literally makes the daily life of an artist. Her works show the world the way she sees it, and manifest the essence of the things she has seen. Her paintings are also mirror of her mind frame. Her lines signify the modern mode of expression. Some of her paintings clearly highlight pure composition which conveys her fondness for rectangular and triangular forms.

Asma Akber is very courageous and has a strong control over canvas. She never feels afraid to work with large canvases. To her, a large canvas gives the opportunity to express herself properly. She has worked with different sized canvases and her mode of expression is pure abstract expressionism. Abstract expressionism had been developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often characterised by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity.

Asma is a true naturist painter. Her keen aptitude is to draw the philosophical aspect of nature, volume and colour and to create poetic compositions. Her use of acrylic is fresh, contemplative and provides the spectators with a sense of bliss. Her artworks are lively and have the right kind of restraint. She knows where to stop. She feels rhythm is the main root of all creations. Nature has its own rhythm and her main focus is to unfold the pulses of nature. Loneliness and quietness are the most important features in the works.

Asma is also an avid art collector. Her art collections include contemporary Bangladeshi master painters, Indian master painters, Western contemporary artists and a number of promising Bangladeshi painters. She has always been very interested in new ideas and contemporary culture and art have always been an important part of that. Her collections also have various sections, there is a figurative and objective section, a landscape section, a section on the Liberation War, Language Movement, scenic beauty of the country, and an abstract or cutting edge section. She is open to new thought, which allows her to be interested in all avenues of creativity.

The writer is an art critic and cultural curator.