Marrakech Biennale 2016 – Part I

April 28, 2016 butterfly

Marrakech Biennale

Presided by Vanessa Branson and curated by Reem FADDA, the sixth edition of the Marrakech Biennale is a festival with the mission to build bridges between the cultures through the arts, inspiring outstanding artists from all over the world to create work that responds to the magical environment of Marrakech.

Concentrated within Marrakech’s central historical sites of the El Bahia and El Badii palaces, Dar Si Saïd museum, Menara Pavilion, and Koutoubia Mosque and its surrounding minaret and cistern, the Marrakech Biennale offers visitors an immervise experience between the historical sites, the souks within the Medina and the contemporary art installations.

Marrakech Biennale

The Palais de Bahia is displaying works by the late Farid Belkahia, an artist who spent nearly his entire life in Marrakech (1934-2014). Belkahia studied and worked in Europe for several years, but eventually returned to the region, where he headed the School of Fine Art in Casablanca in the early ’60s and created abstracted pieces from rich materials resembling the Moroccan earth (wax, copper, tanned leathers), effectively replacing the European expressionists’ canvases with the organic.

Marrakech Biennale

The installation by Oscar Murillo entitled through patches of wheat, corn and mud exemplifies the artist’s ability to move across mediums, spanning painting to sculpture and interactive installation. The public is here called directly into the artwork through being able to handle large-size artworks, mainly paintings, of modest appearance.
By removing the taboo of touch and using humble and disposable, materials, the artist questions the aura and statute of the work of art and develops a new role for it in the viewer’s physical space.

Fatiha Zemmouri presents an installation at the Palais El Badii entitled À l’abri… de rien (Sheltered… From Nothing). A massive, meteor-like rock made of polystyrene and plaster appears wedged between two walls at the end of a narrow corridor.
Hovering overhead, while it recalls a ancient history and geological time, the viewer’s awareness is focussed towards a potential daunting outcome.

Colourful paintings by Moroccan artist Mohammed Chabâa, part of the radical Casablanca School of Fine Arts (mostly active in the 1960s and ’70s) also adorn the rooms to historical palaces.

View the full set of pics here

Stay tuned for the rest of our coverage where we visit the Rancinan extraodinary exhibition, the OFF and the Street Art projects of the Marrakech Biennale.

Marrakech Biennale
Until 6 May 2016
Morocco

London, streets, Uncategorized

Streets: Mr Cenz (London)

April 26, 2016 butterfly

London Streets

We bumped into Mr Cenz as he was painting a brand new mural in Soho London.

Away from his signature female portraits, this new work features an oniric landscape.
Check some pics of the work in progress below.
It can be seen on Berwick Street, Soho London.

London Streets

London, Shows

London: Maser – Orbiting on the Periphery @ Lazarides Rathbone

April 26, 2016 butterfly

Irish graffiti artist Maser stages his first solo show entitled ‘Orbiting on the Periphery‘ at Lazarides Rathbone in London.

‘Orbiting on the Periphery‘ continues Masers’ exploration into the philosopher and mathematician Thales of Miletus’s theory ; “mens sana in corpore sano,” in which physical health and condition are recognised as an essential part of psychological equilibrium.

With strong use of bold graphic and geometric elements, loose brush strokes and relief work, the exhibition focuses on Masers’s interest in duality and the thought-provoking relationship between the physical and psychological.
Combining his graffiti experience with his formal art education Maser has developed a singular body of work, balancing hard-edged blocks of neon colour that congeal into expressive, figurative compositions.

Maser: Orbiting on the Periphery

View the full set of pics here

Maser – Orbiting on the Periphery
Until 5th May 2016
Lazarides Rathbone
11 Rathbone Place
London W1T 1HR

Books, Marrakech, streets, Toulouse

Streets: Tracing Morocco with Hendrik ECB Beikirch

April 25, 2016 butterfly 1 Comment

We first encountered the work of German artist Hendrik Beikirch aka ECB last year in Toulouse where he completed a large scale monochrome portrait of a Maroccan woman for Mr Freeze Festival (covered).

Toulouse (FR) – Mr Freeze 2015

This was part of a series entitled ‘Tracing Morocco’, following an artistic residency at Jardin Rouge in collaboration with the Montresso Foundation, during which he created 22 portraits, paying tribute to those anonymous Moroccans craftsmen and women he met during his travels, emphasising these fascinating encounters through portraiture.

Many of these portraits were also painted as large scale murals in New York, Roma, Copenhagen, Oslo, Murmansk, Toulouse, Naestved, Paris etc.

Hendrick ECB Beikirch recently returned to Marrakech to reveal the different artworks and completed additional murals.

Jardin Rouge – Marrakech 2016

Unveiled for the Marrakech Biennale, the latest mural is an hommage to Aziz, a local Marrakchi builder working at Jardin Rouge, who coincidentally worked to repair this exact wall previously. The artwork can be seen across the Marrakech train station.

See some work in progress shots below.

Ecb_aziz_Marrakech_©Paul_Etard_15_HD (Custom)

View the full set of pics here

In parallel the Montresso Foundation released a book ‘Tracing Morocco’ illustrating the collection of Beikirch’s portraits of Moroccan men and women he immortalised by telling their story through their faces. The book is an edition 2 500 copies with 50 deluxe version, signed and numbered by the artist. To preorder a copy of the book, just drop an email to contact.jardinrouge@gmail.com

BOOK-_-tracing_morocco_cover_221015-592x800-1

Photos credit: Butterfly / Work in progress shots by Paul Etard / Jardin Rouge

Shows, Toulouse

Toulouse: Subcultures @ Espace Croix Baragnon – Part I

April 23, 2016 butterfly 2 Comments

The museum ‘L’espace Croix Baragnon’ in Toulouse is celebrating the underground cultural scene with a new exhibition called ‘Subcultures’. The city of Toulouse is the cradle of many renowned artists from Miss Van, Fafi, Reso, Tilt to dran, but the artistic scene is even more prolific, mixing popular cultures (rock music, punk, goth, hip hop, experimental … sci-fi, comics, movies, skateboarding, tattoo…) revisiting modern art movements (surrealism, Dadaism, pop art, poster-art…) as well as post-modern art forms (lowbrow, graffiti, street art,…)

Curator David Pujol has been observing the local underground culture for several years and presents ‘Subcultures’ featuring 10 established and emerging artists, with their influences and distinctive style on the local and international scene: Amandine Urruty, 100TAUR (covered), A4 Putevie (covered), Mathieu Bourrillon, Nicolas Delpech, Fräneck, Herbot, Kinder K, Arnaud Loumeau and Benjamin Stoop.

Although not listed in the official artists roster, enfant terrible dran (covered) makes several appearances with a brand new canvas and stickers and flyers throughout the exhibition space.

Subcultures - Toulouse

Huge crowds and artists turned out for the eagerly awaited opening including anonymous artist <++ (covered) who also made a live performance.

Subcultures - Toulouse

Through his drawings and sculptural installations, artivist artist A4Putevie (b.1980) illustrates the thirst for freedom within the urban environment, his thoughts and distress about the current politic affairs, war and surveillance society.

Subcultures - Toulouse

Inspired by nature, religious art, Japanese culture and mythology, 100TAUR (b.1982) explores the concept of imperfection, creating a universe populated by fantastic creatures, distorted hybrids humans and animals with a sacred touch. Anthropomorphic fishes are adorned with a golden aura, while his signature character ‘Slug’, symbol of resilience is omnipresent within his compositions.

Subcultures - Toulouse

Kinder K. (b.1984) oil paintings play with medieval imagery and religious iconography to question our faith in life. Her colourful compositions illustrate empowered female characters with an erotic touch, whether Lolitas dancing and being seduced by the devil, or a man-eater she-devil.

Subcultures - Toulouse

Fascinated by video games, Arnaud Loumeau (b.1978) draws kaleidoscopic shapes on paper. Using mathematical precision, patterns are repeated in a loop like in a computer and coloured with marker. Underground illustrator Franeck painted a mural inside the gallery space with a series of small black and white drawings featuring his signature humorous round shaped characters within architectural landscapes.

Subcultures - Toulouse