Born in Ferdjioua, in Lesser Kabylia, to an Algerian father and a French mother, I have always moved between two cultures — the reflection of a path shaped by vivid memories. I grew up in Biskra, at the gates of the Sahara, where the blazing sun seemed to steal the colors from the landscape. When I arrived in France at the age of 20, the sight of a rainbow after a heavy rain unconsciously brought back the hues so dear to my past. From that moment on, I made a definitive choice for my work: I never use more than seven colors — those of the rainbow. I strictly exclude black and white, except in my dedicated black and gold creations.
I remember with great emotion the time spent with my sisters when my father took us to his workplace at weekends. At each end of the staircase banister stood two glass spheres of a deep, transparent ultramarine blue. Their rounded facets caught the light with a mesmerizing glow. That hypnotic blue, which I rediscovered later at the École des Beaux-Arts in Algiers, still infuses my canvases today, somewhere between royal blue and indigo.
Driven by a passion for images, I began designing my own cassette and CD covers as a teenager, drawing inspiration from the layout, typography and photography of album sleeves. My creativity was nourished by illustrators such as Coles Phillips, J.C. Leyendecker, Patrick Nagel and George Stavrinos, and by founding movements such as Impressionism, Art Deco, the Bauhaus and Memphis-Milano.
The 1990s turned my life upside down. The civil war in Algeria forced my mother, my two sisters, our dog and me to flee the country in a hurry. As my mother was a French national, she was urged to leave, which meant abandoning my studies at the Beaux-Arts in Algiers despite excellent results. The early days in France were hard. Factory work and temporary jobs were the only way to support my family, but through it all, I never stopped drawing.
After my military service, during which I ran the graphic design office in Nanterre, I completed an intensive work-study training in graphic design. Within six months I had mastered Photoshop, Illustrator and QuarkXPress well enough to run the studio where I was an intern on my own. I then joined several Parisian studios and agencies as an illustrator, graphic designer, typographer and 3D artist. In 2011, I chose to go freelance to explore my personal projects and fully commit to my path as an artist.
In 2015, I started illustrating birds using simple geometric shapes, finished with a digital texture imitating colored pencil. The success of this series on social media quickly encouraged me to return to my favorite subject of all: the portrait.
In May 2021, while reworking one of my faces, I found a new and perfect balance. By bringing rich depth and texture specifically to the skin, I created a striking contrast with the smooth, sharp geometric shapes of the rest of the composition. The first Pop Art portrait born from this refined approach was named Simon.
This need for a stronger material and sensory dimension naturally shaped what came next. To take this approach all the way, I broadened my universe in 2022 by embracing acrylic paint on canvas. Today I have created many canvases, each bearing the indelible mark of my dual culture, my personal trials and my endless quest for color.
My drive to push the boundaries of color and form recently reached an astronomical milestone. I was deeply honored to be selected among only 222 artists worldwide to have my work permanently archived in the first museum on the Moon, the Lunaprise. For this lunar time capsule, I proudly sent works that represent the core of my identity: my vibrant Pop Art.
Yet even as my art reaches the Moon, it remains deeply rooted in human connection here on Earth, through my interactive street project “50/50”. The concept is a shared adventure: every Saturday, I hide the left half of an artwork, marked with a number, somewhere in the city. Whoever finds it contacts me, and we meet to complete the piece together. I sign the work on the spot, and the finder leaves with the finished original. What started as a ritual in the streets of Libourne is now spreading to new cities, bringing this intimate, shared experience of creation to more people.
Contact me for more information.
