Larbi Cherkaoui

We will pay a visit to the studio of artist Larbi Cherkaoui whose paintings have been presented in museums, galleries, and private collections in Morocco, Europe, and the US.

Cherkaoui takes the highly traditional and prescribed form of calligraphy and, by removing the Arabic letters from their original context, causes us to see them in new and abstract ways. By increasing their scale, and removing other contexts, he presents them more akin to painterly marks than part of a complex alphabet communicating clear meaning. Written language can seem universal to those who understand it already but is a puzzle known only to those already initiated. To everyone else, and removed from the original context, it reverts to abstraction – seen as shape, line, color. During this studio visit, we will discover the paintings of Cherkaoui and his approach, which uses the form and symbolism of Arabic script in his paintings.

With a cup of Moroccan green tea and accompanied by Mr. Cherkaoui we will spend an artistic evening rich learning how a painting can use the traditional Arabic alphabet to create stunning paintings that all that is Moroccan. At the end of the visit, you will return to your hotel with a new understanding of the realm of contemporary Moroccan art.