My conception of modern Arabic calligraphy

Concept & Approach

My artistic approach to Arabic calligraphy essentially revolves around a purely visual relationship to the 'Arabic letter' as a symbol and as a sign, exploring its aesthetic dimensions.

By using the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet as a major element in my paintings, I attempt to divest the linguistic character of the letter of its lateral meaning and transform it into a kind of universal visual language in which the letter itself becomes a language with its own diction.

When you compose a canvas with Arabic letters, you create a movement across the canvas, a dynamic, a kind of visual choreography that can be likened to a language or visual poetry.

In my native Morocco, I grew up speaking, listening, seeing and writing in Arabic. Looking back, I realise that calligraphic imagery was everywhere I looked: in books, on screens, in architecture, on shop fronts and even in mathematical formulae. Everything was letter, symbol and line.

Now that I've been living in France for over 30 years, where the eye is overwhelmed by images and painting, I'm trying, through my approach to Arabic calligraphy, to build a bridge between these two cultures. A link between yesterday and today, between today and tomorrow. A dialogue between the letter in its cultural and linguistic identity and the visual and universal language that it can engender as a means of expression.

Paintings & Letterings

In my paintings, the viewer can visually read what he wants to decipher from my message, in all directions, from left to right, from right to left, from top to bottom, diagonally... In this space that is the canvas, the Arabic letters are not limited to their linguistic and significant function, and they are not simply an element of the words, but they become totally "the signifiers".

Arabic letters are peopled with history, culture, sound, rhythm and movement. They are naturally elegant and poetic in all their postures and lines.

On the canvas, I don't think about what I want to paint with them. I don't sketch beforehand. I rely totally on their visual poetry and the inspiration of the moment. By orchestrating them in paint, I just try to create a space in which they appear, they exist on their own and give life to the canvas.