Moucharabieh, Purple and Orange

acrylic on canvas

170 by 150 cm. 66 7/8 by 59 1/8 in.

Executed in 2020.

Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai

Mohamed Melehi (b.1936, Asilah, Morocco, d. 2020, Paris) is widely regarded as a ꦓmajor♕ figure of postcolonial Moroccan art and of transnational modernism.

A graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts, Tétouan, Morocco, in 1955, he continue🌼d his studies abroad, learning fine art in Seville and Madrid, sculpture in Rome, and engraving in Paris. In the early sixties, he travelled to the United States, where he studied at Columbia University (with a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation) for two years before returning to Morocco in 1964. It was during this time that Melehi began to

explore his cultural heritage as a primary sou🍸rce of inspiration anᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚd started using a bolder, more brilliant colour palette.

In 1969, Melehi organized the first open-air group exhibition, held in Marrakech medina’s Jamaa el-Fn🎶a Square, in Morocco. Eliciting much acclaim from the public and art critics, this exhibition radicalized the country’s contemporary art scene. Melehi was Professor of painting, scul𝐆pture and photography at the Casablanca School of Fine Arts from 1964 to 1969.

In 1978, Melehi and Mohamed Benaissa created the Al Mouhit Cultural Assoc🅺iation, a non-political organisation with purely cultural objectives. The result of this venture is ♒the Asilah Cultural Moussem, an annual festival held every summer. A highlight of the festival is the mural painting event, first held in April 1978, a project which has revitalized the formerly dilapidated appearance of the artist’s birthplace. Asilah is now celebrated for its vividly coloured murals, many of which have been created by Melehi.

Reinstating the minimal spirit of his work of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Melehi’s final flourish was his Moucharabieh series of paintings (2019-20ꦅ20). These were shown exclusively at exhibitions with Lawrie Shabibi in Abu Dhabi Art (November 2019), Art Dubai (online -March 2020) and London (Cromwell Place, October 2020).