A funny character, this Rahoule, who, at 78 years old, retains a magnetic presence and an enigmatic aura. Features tense like the bow ready to release its arrow, sibylline smile and burning gaze behind indiscreet glasses, he establishes himself as a figure both mythical and elusive. An inextinguishable artistic flame that ignites with his work and freezes with his silence. This man of fire and ice, by turns secretive and talkative, has continued to inhabit the Moroccan and international artistic scene since his resounding emergence in the prolific seventies.
A knowledgeable explorer of plastic genres, Rahoule has sculpted his art as one sculpts life, by mixing painting, sculpture and ceramics in an alchemy that is as explosive as it is poetic. With rare rigor, he explored these artistic territories, sometimes merging them into works that transcend categories. However, it is to sculpture that he reserved his greatest devotion, becoming a fervent preacher of this art which he considers to be a major discipline, but often neglected in the Moroccan latitudes.
His journey demonstrates an unwavering commitment to his art and his heritage. Born in the popular district of Derb Sultan in Casablanca, Rahoule began his studies at the Beaux-Arts in Casablanca before broadening his horizons in Paris, the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia. There, he perfected his techniques, developing a visual language that subtly dialogues with the architecture of his hometown. The tangled anthropomorphic forms that punctuate his work bear witness to this symbiosis between the human and the urban, in a permanent quest for new languages.
The artist has not only shaped works, he has also shaped generations. Teacher then director of Fine Arts in Casablanca from 2003, Rahoule transmitted his vision and his standards, profoundly marking the Moroccan artistic scene. A member of the Casablanca School group, he was a key player in the emergence of contemporary Moroccan art, always in search of a fruitful dialogue between modernity and tradition.
An untitled work by Abderrahmane Rahoule, produced in 1978. Mixed media on canvas, 90×90 cm.
The African Arty gallery celebrates this heritage from December 12, by organizing a masterful retrospective dedicated to Rahoule. This event, which will highlight sixty years of creations by one of the pillars of modern and contemporary Moroccan art, is an invitation to rediscover a universe where each work seems imbued with this inexplicable and invisible radiance that we call grace. Paintings, sculptures, ceramics: everything here exudes timeless vitality.
The visitor will be struck by square, circular or cubic shapes, where ocher, green and blue tones mingle, evoking reminiscences from Africa and elsewhere. The sculptures, these intertwined bodies, vibrant with life, exert an irresistible attraction. And as Rahoule says so well through his work: his art cannot be commented on, it must be experienced. Any gloss would be superfluous in the face of this aesthetic which, in itself, takes the place of discourse.
Rahoule, this insatiable ogre of the imagination, has drawn on Moroccan roots, African and Arab-Muslim traditions to shape an invigorating and invigorating art.
