2011 - The Last Word

 

I knew I wanted to commit my life to art when: I first walked through the great hall of the Sistine Chapel decorated with works by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Signorelli, Perugino, Rosselli and above all, Michelangelo’s frescoes of Adam and other scenes from Genesis, especially the Last Judgement.

 

My mother always advised me to: finish everything I started in life and never give up on a job halfway.

 

Stereotypes are: the result of involuntary victims of different upbringings perpetuating uncontrolled imitation.

 

In nature, I feel: perfectly regenerated, halfway between natural revitalization and a return to my spiritual roots.

 

Two things contemporary society should take note of from the Ancient Egyptians: the omnipresence of the utmost aesthetic refinement in all fields of life: architectural design of homes, decorative furniture, sartorial attitudes, culinary arts, medical sciences... And the respect for both the living and the dead.

 

Teaching children about art entails: the initiation and awakening of their fives enses and their intuition while raising awareness of the concepts of existential freedom and tolerance.

 

The three things I am most proud of: a close communion with those closest to me, persevering in making most of my childhood dreams come true artistically and being able to contribute to the construction of the universal edifice of culture and art.

 

The one thing I am most ashamed of: having been compelled to practice inexorable self-censorship by withdrawing some of my works from certain culturally rigid artistic spaces.

 

The Arab art scene lacks: a daring and innovative spirit on the part of the creators and an impetus for mental emancipation on a social level.

 

A life in art means: artists’ permanent involvement and constant creative immersion in the conception and development of their work.

 

The blank canvas is: a verdict facing the creator. Its immaculate whiteness challenges inspiration and requires true spiritual communion before any action.

 

I know that an artwork is complete when: I feel the authenticity of the imagined aesthetics emerge while observing a subjective margin of self-criticism.

 

Dealers can be: visionaries and precursors at the same time, capable of anticipating the referral of certain redundant analyses.

 

Art benefits society because: while instilling an essential aesthetic dynamic to the city, it contributes to the cultural development of society in the sense of a plural modernity, as an alternative to paralysis and blockage.

 

I know I’ve become one with an artwork when: believing that I am ONE with an artwork is the illusion that the “perfect work” gives me of having reached the limits of my pictorial explorations.

 

Four things on my bucket list are: to take the time for introspection; to catalogue and arrange my artworks; to meditate on the foundation of one of the commandments of my ancestral Arab culture – namely, is the creative act actually an anathema? And to visit Patagonia and travel the Silk Road.

 

I always miss: knowing how to slow down.

 

My greatest indulgence is: to DANCE.

 

Contemporary artists today need to: reread the history of art carefully and consider in particular the foudations of the great schools of thought that have revolutionized this science of human creation throughout the centuries.

 

I am a “choreographer of letters” because: I have always felt that the shapes and architecture of Arabic letters are in perfect concordance and harmony with the morphology of the body.

 

I am most humbled when: I receive criticism and remarks from people who have no specific knowledge about the visual arts or aesthetics.

 

The human race’s weapon of mass destruction is: in addition to the nationalistic pretentions and assertions of identity of certain societies, intellectual poverty and above all, ignorance.

 

Tunisia can be felt in my works because: since I am not involved with figurative art, I do not believe it is possible to sense a specific origin in my works, which are artistically situated in the universalization of graphic elements of Arab origin.

 

Dancing can: create the necessary symbiosis between the liberation of the intellect and the metaphysical needs of every human being.

 

If audiences could dance to the beat of my drums, they would: allow their bodies to be regenerated and respond naturally to other parallel and constructive synergies.

 

The Arabic letter can be likened to: the patterns of certain elements in nature, but most of all, morphologically, to human movement. As for its presence in abstract art, it can be compared to each pigment of colour taken as such.

 

The trait I admire most in others: humility.

 

The trait I admire most in myself: perseverance.

 

When performing, I focus by: immersing myself willingly and wholeheartedly in the spirit of each new work, whichever its scale.

 

My gut instinct is: to remain permanently awake.

 

My greatest sense is: the sense of intuition.

 

Sometimes, I forget how to: resist the harmful temptations of gluttony.

 

I move from one media to another depending on: the requirements of the initial intention induced by the mental image of the work, which orients my thought instinctively.

 

I regret: having spontaneously given away the first paintings of my youth...

 

Paper can be: priceless.

 

The past is: a huge matrix of former lives, which should function both as a historical memory and as a bond capable of injecting dynamism into the present as well as the future.

 

Utopia would be: the fundamental source of any imaginary digression.

 

The brush is mightier than: any weapon of destruction, whatever its origin or power.

 

The ten thinkers who influenced me most: Ibn Rushd, Sohravardi, Ibn Arabi, Nietzsche, Spinoza, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Osho, Saint-John Perse and René Char.

 

The ten artists who inspired me most: Johann Sebastian Bach, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Gaudí, Botticelli, Goya, Turner, El Greco, Malevich, Kandinsky, Bacon, Fontana and Tàpies.