Moroccan Mahi CHAFIK is visual artist and sculptor. Born in Casablanca he lives and works in Marrakech since 1983.
- Studied painting and ceramic in the fine art school in Casablanca. - Winner of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts award in Casablanca in 1975. Afterwards he studies Monumental painting and art history. Mahi was graduated from Royal Academy of Arts of Liège Belgium in 1978.
Based in Marrakech, I am a visual artist. In my sculpture, I explore the boundary between pure abstraction and vegetal inspiration. My work is characterized by great versatility in scale, ranging from collector's pieces to monumental sculptures. Through wood, metal, or composite materials, I translate the vital force of plants, their curves and their impulses, without ever falling into literal figuration. Each sculpture is an invitation to feel nature rather than to look at it: a work that breathes, grows, and anchors itself in space. Recently, I completed a major public commission: two identical steel sculptures, now installed at the base of the Mohammed VI Tower in Rabat.
My painting's purpose is to be an invitation to meditation. Inhabited by the pictorial sign since childhood, I stand at the crossroads of tradition and modernity. I have forged a singular expression there, weaving the spirituality and rigor of Oriental calligraphy with the subjectivity of the Western gesture. My tones, soft and warm, are born from the layering of transparent coats, thus offering depth and density to the work. Painted or subtly engraved into the material with often intuitive gestures, my signs constitute a visual language drawn from Moroccan heritage, the better to resonate within the universality of art.
Private and Public Collections Morocco, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, and Canada.
