Mediterranea - Shared & Divided is visual art project about in the Mediterranean area. The interdisciplinary project explore photography, mixed-media and installation for create contemporary pictures of mediterranean area. Between Sarajevo, Tunisia, Istanbul and Cairo we promote a dialogue among communities sharing commons backgrounds. In a actual fragmentation of Mediterranean area due of an hard european migration politic, artists propose new visual artworks for contribute to pluralism, diversity and multiculturalism dialogue.
Geometric sunscreens in Moorish, moroccan tile, and Indian patterns by Delia Shades. Not so crazy about the contrast with the dark bricks but I think these are a beautiful and simple interior ornament.
Skipping through the internet, I stumbled upon these adorable tees from Amazigh Connection, an outfit selling Amazigh culture themed tshirts designed by some of the top graphic artists worldwide.
Check out this kiddie tee with a six-legged giraffe, inspired by ancient Saharan rock art, saying "Hi!" in tamazigh-- and spots arrayed with letters from the Tifinagh alphabet. So cute.
Spanish graphic designer and multimedia artist Javier Reta's digital collages are inspired from the two years he spent living in Chefchaouen, in Morocco's northern Rif region.
This series is entitled "Into Jebl" (Into the mountain).
Javier's mixed-medias draw from his "devotion to these mountain woman and their hard work," his curiosity with Arabic typography as graphic elements and his personal photography.
His photography is also quite stunning, veering towards the abstract. See this series 'Blue & Orange.'
All images courtesy Javier Reta. For more of his work, visit his website or portfolio.
Angaza Afrika, translated from the Swahili to mean ‘Shed light on Africa’ or ‘Look around Africa’, is comprehensive in its range. Each work will be a stunning visual and physical manifestation of the artists’ energy and spirit, such as beautiful work of South African artist Karel Nel, who sets vast leaves from the Coco palms in atmospheric, elemental architectural spaces.
Other featured artists include Romuald Hazoumé, whose immense installation Dream (2007), consisting of a boat made from petrol canisters, placed in front of a panoramic photograph won the documenta 12 prize; El Anatsui, who with his magnificent cloths made from thousands of glimmering bottle tops was one of the highlights of the 52nd Venice Biennale and who will transform Channel 4’s 50ft logo, situated in front of their London Headquarters, with an installation in June 2008; Owusu-Ankomah, whose drawings were chosen by Giorgio Armani for his Emporio Armani (PRODUCT) RED capsule collection and Abdoulaye Konaté who has been shortlisted for the Artes Mundi 2008 Prize.
TOP TWENTYFIVE First International Contemporary Art Fair specialized on the African Continent and the Mediterranean. 25 galleries which represent the quality of artists in the African and Mediterranean regions.
In 2011, TOP TWENTYFIVE will officially open a new platform with a concept of Fair and meeting designed to adapt to the new challenges of the art world, the economy and international culture.
Morocco's have got divers contemporary artists creators, as well as the formation of a professional system in the country by means of art galleries, museums, collections and publications, have turned it into a strategic spot in which professionals of the art world, collectors and art gallery owners from different countries can find their place. It has established an artistic dialogue between the East and the West, held by a country that is now at its peak in terms of spreading and creation of contemporary art.
TOP TWENTYFIVE encourages meetings and dialogue through the most representative artistic expressions from the East and the West.
TOP TWENTYFIVE pays particular attention to the latest visual expressions; besides, being it an INTERNATIONAL FAIR, it will specially emphasize the participation of the GALLERIES and PUBLISHERS that have excelled the most in their field through their activities and international impact.
Estimulate the art market means empowering all the industry that is necessary to bring its product closer and closer to most of the citizens; it means opening new fields to creation and knowledge, and it means broadening the intellectual debates that make us reflect and shape our own criteria.
A new works about XXI century values of European area. With deportation centers as Lamperdusa, Lesvos or Malta we need to think about Human Rights facts in European socities. Because Forteress Europe still rising walls, perscute imigrant & refugees we need to open our mind in a XXI Century globalisation construction.
“From the Fez to the camel, Hassan Hajjaj takes on the European stereotypes of the North African world and turns them into a visual celebration,” writes Projectbase. “His large canvasses sit comfortably in the post modern European art world. Restaurateur Mourad Mazouz, Blur (who incidentally used Hassan’s graphics for their official website) singer Damon Albarn and the Moroccan Consulate in London have all acquired some of Hassan’s pieces.
Hajjaj discovered that nobody had documented the street level graphic art of his native land. It set him off on a mission to elevate and educate people to the funky visual art of the souk with a twist. Having arrived in London from Larache in Morocco in his teens, he grew up amid the emerging club culture of London, UK, absorbing the music and styles of the reggae, hip hop and world music. Hajjaj’s visual sensibilities led him to enter the world of art and fashion. After running clubs and managing up and coming bands, he decided in 1984 to forge a solid relationship with the New York scene and subsequently the same year launched his own clothing and accessories label RAP.
A restless spirit, Hassan has chosen his imagery intuitively and ingeniously. The concepts he employs are seductively witty and playful while having a serious edge. Clearly a child of the pop art generation – his working methods encompass so many technics and fields – he engages personally and intensively in the time consuming process of designing and producing furniture (tables, lamps, stools, poufs), clothes (from customised patrol attendant overalls to babuch shoes, from funky-ed djellabahs to hats), photography (the youth of the medina a never ending source of inspiration, as well as photo-reportages commissioned by several magazines), and painting and printed canvas (always in a limited numbered edition). The concept remains the same, only the medium changes. All is expertly crafted and dishes out plenty of colourful humour.
Hassan Hajjaj – Graffix from the Souk
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For social systems at The Exchange, Hajjaj has produced a place where visitors can relax and chat. It might also be seen as a symbolic space, where life and art are momentarily integrated. Hajjaj brings together re-cycled North African objects with items and imagery readily found in and around Cornwall. The riot of colour, juxtaposition of patterns, and co-existence of old and new, Cornish and Moroccan creates a playful, feel-good environment. Here visitors can sit, read, relax, listen and talk.”
