Dennis Asbury

A Life Shaped by Passion

Dennis Asbury's journey is one of following passion wherever it leads. Growing up with an innate love for fine art and design, he pursued that calling to a Master's Degree in Fine Art. But life had other adventures in store—he became a race car driver, channeling that same intensity and precision into the world of motorsports, before founding Asbury & Associates Marketing.

His marketing company became the preeminent design firm for graphic promotions of parts and accessories for automobile companies across the United States. For years, Dennis merged his artistic eye with commercial innovation, creating work that captured attention and drove results. But the canvas never stopped calling.

Return to the Canvas

Retirement opened the door Dennis had been waiting to walk through. He returned to his foundational passion—fine art painting—with renewed energy and creative freedom. Initially, he concentrated on landscape painting, capturing the drama of skies and the poetry of trees with bold, expressive brushstrokes.

Then came a portrait, painted just for fun. The response was overwhelming. Friends, collectors, and galleries took notice of his ability to capture not just a likeness, but a presence—those piercing eyes that seem to follow you, that create a moment of connection between viewer and subject. The encouragement led Dennis to shift his focus, and celebrity portraiture became his signature.

The Power of the Gaze

Dennis's celebrity portraits have become his most celebrated work. Lady Gaga's fierce glamour, Jennifer Lawrence's natural radiance, Marilyn Monroe's timeless allure—each painting captures the essence of its subject through vivid color and that unmistakable connection of eyes meeting eyes. His portraits of The Joker bring a different intensity, the chaos and theatricality rendered in expressive, textured strokes.

Working in acrylic on canvas, Dennis builds layers of color that create depth and luminosity. His backgrounds often feature soft, ethereal gradients that allow the subject to command attention while adding an almost cinematic quality to each piece.

Two Worlds, One Vision

What connects Dennis's portraits to his landscapes is his fearless use of color. Whether painting the iridescent hair of a pop icon or the cotton-candy clouds above a purple hillside, he commits fully to bold, unexpected palettes. There's joy in his work—the joy of someone who has lived many lives and now gets to pour all of that experience into pure creative expression.

His landscapes are dreamscapes: trees rendered in impossible blues and reds, skies that shift from coral to violet, grounds that glow with golden warmth. They're not representations of places but feelings—invitations to step into a world where color itself is the subject.