At a young age, Asher Lev used his art as a form of expression which would allow him to deal with his anguish and other feelings, or to illustrate his view of the world to his parents and other adults. He was naive to the world and his art was innocent and non-offensive. This stage of his art was the more personal art because it was of his own design and thought, not like his later art. At this stage, he was able to draw and paint as he pleased and able to experiment with what ever medium he wished. His art was youthful and innocent and therefore he was able to get away with drawing it. His father would feel that his art was merely a stage or some menial thing that could be diverted. Also, Asher did not feel the urge to anger his parents or disrupt the social structure of his Hasidic community. He was being young and his art expressed that. All of this peaceful, youthfulness was corrupted by Jacob Kahn, who for some reason instilled a bleak outlook and sense of dysfunction into Asher, which came out in his art.
The Rebbe sent Asher to Jacob Kahn, probably not to support Asher’s gift but probably to destroy Asher’s desire to be an artist. I think that Jacob realized this and in almost a vengeful effort, Kahn tried to divert Asher away from the Hasidic teachings and allow him to stir up controversy in the Jewish community that he had probably wanted but never had the ability to do.
So now Asher’s art, instead of being innocent, is vengeful and dark, filled with a sense of anguish and betrayal. Somehow, Kahn made Asher feel like he had been punished in his life and that the purpose of his art was to expose what was wrong with the world. Asher had no real reason to dislike his life (aside from the strict regulations of the Hasidic community) for he was well off, and his family bore a lot of responsibility. His childhood trauma stemmed from his own incapability to accept the responsibility that he had to. Thus, the “Anger” inside of him that was reflected in his art, was merely fabricated by Kahn for his own vengeful desires. Asher, was used as an artist. He was a prodigy who was used by his teacher, which led to the break up of Asher’s family.