The Comptoir des Mines Galerie in Marrakech is hosting the exhibition “Mohammed Kacimi: 1994-2003, a universal work” from December 28, 2024 to January 20, 2025. Rare and exceptional works will be presented in response to the personal exhibition “Kacimi-1993-2003. An African transition” from the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations (MUCEM), curated by Nadine Descendre, in 2018.
This period marks a break with Western art and the trends that influenced its art. “For the artist, this is a chapter very different from his previous periods, much more personal, characterized by a liberated, disruptive and transdisciplinary expression. By highlighting this important moment, the exhibition invites the visitor to re-examine how the work of Mohammed Kacimi contributed to the development of a new Mediterranean imagination,” indicates a press release from Comptoir des mines.
In this exhibition dedicated to the artist's most productive period, Mohammed Kacimi, first influenced by the School of Paris, turned to Africa in search of truth and authenticity, in accordance with the awareness of his “Africanness”. “Mohammed Kacimi is convinced that his art must be based on an intercultural dialogue between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, refusing to distinguish between a “white Africa” and a “black Africa” separated by the Sahara,” we read in the catalog. of the exhibition.
Mohammed Kacimi's African period (1993-2003) marks the peak of his work, a phase where he freed himself from Western art and the various aesthetic trends that had influenced his career. He then explores a new, deeply personal path, characterized by free expression, devoid of constraints, and an increasingly transdisciplinary approach.
Hicham Daoudi, founder of the Comptoir des Mines Gallery, recalls that Mohammed Kacimi is one of the first Moroccan artists, along with Farid Belkahia, to have initiated research in Mali, Senegal and Benin linked to several territories in South Africa. West, listening to History and the aspirations of their populations. “In the company of other artists from the continent, he will participate in several artistic events where his work will evolve in a prodigious way embracing a universal ideal.” An innovative and committed artist, instigator and main witness to the globalization of contemporary Arab art, Kacimi participated in the construction of a new Mediterranean imagination. His movement inspired a new generation of young painters, guiding them in their quest for artistic paths.
The work of this self-taught artist transcends the boundaries between abstraction and figuration. Man is at the center of his concerns and his creations. His paintings, imprinted with natural pigments and dense powders in black and colored hues, are sometimes accompanied by fragments of poems, offering an additional dimension to his artistic meditations.
