Painter
Karim Alaoui
Bronze, cast iron, aluminium, and sometimes thousands of coloured pencils or masons’ nails: Karim Alaoui works at the meeting point of sculpture and design, where the craft of the foundry becomes a language of its own.
The artist
Career
A former pupil of the Lycée Lyautey in Casablanca, Karim Alaoui first studied mechanics and went to work before returning to his studies five years later to specialise in art founding, through a seven-year apprenticeship in the tradition of the compagnonnage. Self-taught in painting and sculpture, he has exhibited since 1988 in Morocco and abroad, most often in Casablanca. For years his foundry in the city’s industrial zone was open to architects, sculptors and designers, and artists such as Farid Belkahia entrusted him with their metal work. Since 2015 he has scaled down commissions and collaborations to devote a smaller studio, near the old Abattoirs, to his own creations.
Encounters as inspiration
For some twenty years his work was haunted by two figures, the actor Jack Nicholson and the sculptor Alberto Giacometti, whose influence can be felt in his gaunt, pared-down silhouettes. He then turned to the world of the Gnaoua, sparked by a meeting with a scholar of their music. During the pandemic, separated from his children by closed borders, he devoted a whole series to the map of Africa, in aluminium, sawdust, matches, nails or pencils. Wary of trends, he has never relied on leather, skin or zellige: each work grows out of a human encounter.
Landmarks
- 1988 — First exhibitions; a reference in cast iron, bronze and aluminium ever since
- Metal and casting work for many Moroccan artists, including Farid Belkahia
- 2015 — Refocuses on his own work in a new studio
- 2020-2022 — Africa series
- Represented by the Abla Ababou gallery, Rabat
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In the same spirit
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