Moroccan painter, sculptor and novelist Mahi Binebine has just marked his return to the art arena in New York City. After more than two decades of absence, the artist reconnected with his “creative stronghold” of the 1990s through an exhibition whose opening took place Wednesday evening in the American megalopolis.
Admirers of Mahi Binebine’s works met at the Sapar Contemporary Art Gallery in the heart of New York’s artistic district, Tribeca, to appreciate the works fashioned with meticulous care and a depth noted by the artist during the last ten years.
Throughout this exhibition entitled “On the Line” which continues until April 5, Binebine takes the visitor into his world of creation and creativity, through his paintings and sculptures which represent silhouettes in departure, bent backs, trampled men and bodies curled up on themselves.
“Binebine’s works trace the contours of individuality, family, history and socio-political change in North Africa in a once universal and particular way, using line to illustrate scenes suggesting that at any moment, we could also be the subjects of this narrative,” reads an introductory note published on the official website of the Sapar Contemporary Art Gallery.
In this regard, Rachel Winter, Curator of this first Mahi Binebine exhibition in New York, indicates, in an essay published on this occasion, that Binebine’s distinct approach simultaneously opens “windows” onto other experiences and mirrors through which “we can see ourselves in this narrative, or offer a point from which we can glance into a past that could become our future.”
Along the same lines, the executive director of the Sapar Contemporary Art Gallery, Nina Levent told MAP that Mahi Binebine’s works shine the spotlight on entire sections of history and describe humanity in all its forms.
At the same time, Levent said it was proud to welcome the work of Binebine, the first North African artist to exhibit his works in this gallery located in the heart of Lower Manhattan.
For his part, Bertrand Epaud, specialist in artistic liaison, indicated that this exhibition allows the general public to rediscover Binebine’s works and to take stock of a whole aspect of his work which focuses in part on masks, noting that these works “arouse the interest of major American and foreign public collections.”
For Mahi Binebine, this exhibition comes after the one which took place last December in Miami (Art Basel Miami Beach) and serves as a retrospective or a reminder of the first works he created during his first stay in New York over 25 years ago.
The inauguration of the “On the Line” exhibition was marked by the presence of several artists and personalities from various backgrounds, including the Ambassador Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN, Omar Hilale.
Born in 1959 in Marrakech, Mahi Binebine moved to Paris in 1980 to continue his studies in mathematics, a subject he taught for eight years. Then he devoted himself to writing and painting. Several of his novels have been translated into around ten languages.
From 1994 to 1999, he made his home in New York. His paintings are part of the permanent collection of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He returned in 2002 to his hometown where he currently lives and works.
2024-02-24 22:35:00
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