Écritures peintres, 1983
Mahjoub Ben Bella (French, born Algeria, 1946)
Oil on canvas; 102 1/3 x 118 in. (260 x 300 cm)
© Mahjoub Ben Bella, 1983
At nineteen years old, Mahjoub Ben Bella left Algeria to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Tourcoing, France, then attended the École des Arts Décoratifs and École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He established himself internationally as a diverse and expansive artist who paints not only canvas but also ceramic pieces, fabrics, tiles, walls, everyday objects such as plates, and Métro stations. Ben Bella also uses color to invent a new language of signs. Working from his unconscious, he creates spontaneous images based on instinct and memory. The process and the resulting artwork therefore emerge from a trancelike state. His work evokes both Arabic calligraphy and European abstraction, the signs and symbols materializing out of composition and rhythm. Throughout, the movement of letters and calligraphy of symbols, traditional or invented, signify an exploration of the senses, of color, and of form.
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