Mohammed Chebaa was a founding member of the Casablanca Art School. Blending traditional Moroccan art with a modern approach to geometric abstraction, Chebaa’s Composition (1974) flows into the canvas from the right and pours out of it on the lower left side. Both its movement and direction allude to the curves and lines found in Arabic script, giving the artwork a sense of almost being readable. Chebaa introduces a sense of depth and three-dimensionality by employing realistic perspective in the stair-like sections located in the middle of the composition. However, alongside this Western influence, the composition embraces the flatness of Eastern art traditions, in that it exists primarily on a single, vertical plane. Chebaa seamlessly invokes confusion – a limbo between depth and flatness, near and far. The repeating parallel lines with alternating colours pays homage to Moroccan craftsmanship seen in woven baskets and ceramic tile works. Additionally, Chebaa’s approach to studying space in this work reminds one of architectural blueprints.
This is the first time the work of Mohammed Chebaa is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Fadia Antar
