Asana Hues — Apophatic Art Practice and Research

The Significance of Insignificance

My artwork engages with the Apophatic through meditative and trance-state-induced processes that often employ geometry or nature's algorithms as methods of expression. By engaging the logical mind just enough to satiate its faculties, geometry serves as a foundational language for apophatic intent, allowing form to function as a container for intuition. Working primarily with compass and straightedge, I use a combination of traditional geometric design methods and those developed through my own practice. Within this process, geometry manifests not merely as a formal system but as an animate, active intelligence that guides the work through intuitive dialogue. The resulting compositions often reveal unexpected synchronicities and alignments, creating portals through which cognition may momentarily recede, allowing space for more subtle experiential forms of perception.

An example of this approach is Chakra Studies, completed as my BFA capstone project at UBC Okanagan in 2025. Inspired by the tradition of Sanatan Dharma, the series combined intuitive geometric painting, hand-milled watercolour pigments aligned with alchemical planetary correspondences, and accompanying soundtracks featuring solfeggio frequencies. Each painting sought to engage the ineffable qualities of the energy body through visual and vibrational representation.

As a continuation of this work, I am currently developing an exhibition titled The Significance of Insignificance. The paintings will continue my exploration of intuitive geometric watercolours on wood, while the sculptures will emerge through a heuristic exploration of the Fibonacci sequence and other natural formulae, building networks of wooden beams and joints that extend beyond the gallery's physical boundaries and into the imaginal. The exhibition aims to host an apophatic journey into the experiential sense of being smaller than an atom, yet still a significant participant in the whole, where individual perspective and awareness are equally important as integration and immersion into the collective and universal.

Asana Hues (b. Casey Hughes, 1991, Coldstream, BC) is a visual artist whose work explores fundamental patterns of nature and states of being. Rooted in Yogic and Buddhist philosophy, Western Esotericism, Alchemy, and his Celtic heritage, his practice bridges spirituality and material form. Through his work, Asana investigates the intersection of traditional and contemporary practices, blending established methodology with intuitive principles. He predominantly works with hand-mulled watercolour paints on wood panels, preferring organic materials whenever possible. He holds a BFA with a minor in Art History from UBC Okanagan and has recently returned to pursue a Master of Design. Asana has exhibited throughout the Okanagan, at Galleries such as the Kelowna Art Gallery and Headbones, and public sculptures in Lake Country. He has exhibited at music festivals such as Burning Man and Shambhala Music Festival and has also presented virtually at Harvard Divinity School’s Spirituality and the Arts Conference (2025) and the Sacred Arts conference at the University of Oxford. Asana’s work invites reflection on peace, harmony, interconnectedness and the unseen structures that shape experience.