It’s all too much, 2009.
About Rachid Ben Ali
Artist Book, 2008.
“Rachid is a very involved artist. Involved as well as courageous; he has been threatened several times. Yet he continues his work. ‘You can threaten me, but I’m still going to make this’ is the text on one of his paintings from 2005.”
Untitled, 2012.
Yet Rachid also exposes the hypocrisy of the middle classes, who pretend nothing is wrong and do not do enough to combat injustice. His heart goes out to Palestine and he rants against the judgements and prejudices regarding homosexuality.”
Untitled (Light and the City), 2012.
“His canvases are al so very sexually charged. The sexual aura of objects and people is very important to him. In his works, sexuality serves as a carrier of creativity and energy. In this context, the phallus is very prominent, not only as an erotic symbol and object of lust but also as an icon of power and the misuse of power.
Placing the work of Rachid Ben Ali in the context of art history, it is clearly reminiscent of the work of Jean Michel Basquiat, due to its expressionist nature and the power with which the paint lands on the canvas. Yet his art also brings to mind more recent artists such as Michael Tedja, Raymond Pettibon and Leon Golub. His works show the same power, and especially the same involvement. A number of his recent paintings in which monumental figures take up the greatest part of the canvas also call up associations with the work of Francis Bacon. They are painted in a completely different manner, and are not even comparable to the art of Francis Bacon, but still this association is there. What do you see when you look at a person, and what do you show as an artist?”
Untitled, 2012.
(quotes from article Margriet Kruyver on website Witzenhausen Gallery)
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