Driss Ouadahi b. 1959
Driss Ouadahi takes as his subject matter the built environment of urban alienation - sterile modernist public housing developments, wire netting and underground passageways. Ouadahi paints works of paradoxical beauty using this stark urbanism as his springboard. Persistent in each of his works are his core concerns of geometric abstraction, transparency and the implication of the veil. His large formal landscapes are montages of spaces and places he knows, with human-scale details often omitted.
Born in 1959, in Casablanca, Morocco, of Algerian parents, Driss Ouadahi grew up in Algeria. He studied at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts d’Alger before enrolling and subsequently graduating from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany.
His recent solo exhibitions include Extra Muros, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, 2019; Systems of Demacration, Von er Heydt-Kunsthalle Wuppertal-Barmen, Germany, 2018; Transposition, Caroline Pagès gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, 2016; Breach in the Silence, Hosfelt Gallery, SF, USA, 2016; Inside Zenith, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, UAE, 2014; Implosion, Caroline Pagès gallery, Lisbon, Portugal, 2013; Trans-Location, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2013 and Breathing Space, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, UAE, 2012.
Noteable institutional shows include the 12th Berlin Biennale, Berlin Germany, 2022; Klassen Verhältnisse/Phantoms of Perception, Kunstverein, Hamburg, Germany, 2018; Welkome Party, Von Der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, Germany, 2018; Dessine vos Desseins, Musée public national d'art contemporain d'alger, Algeria, 2018; L'un et L'Autre, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France, 2018; Beautiful Stranger, Museum De Wieger, Deurne, Netherlands, 2017 and Future of a Promise at Venice Biennale 54, Venice, Italy, 2011.
Ouadahi’s work is in several public collections including Von der Heydt Museum Wuppertal, Germany; Modern Forms, London, UK; FRAC Centre, Orléans, France; Herbert-Weisenburger-Stiftung, Rastatt, Germany; Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Germany; Nadour Collection; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE; Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey; and Stadtsparkasse Baden-Baden, Germany.
In 2014 Ouadhi received the Grand Prix Léopold Sédar Senghor Prize at the 11th edition of Dak’Art, the Biennial of Contemporary African Art in Dakar, Senegal.
Ouadahi currently lives and works in Düsseldorf.
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Driss Ouadahi at Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal, Germany
24 Feb - 1 Sep 2024 MuseumsDriss Ouadahi's work is exhibited at the 'Not much to look at. Ways of Abstraction 1920 Until Today' group show at the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal, Germany. The...Read more -
Under Construction Part II
Group Exhibition 5 Jul - 22 Sep 2021 GalleryUnder Construction Part II expands on the notion of the uncompleted project, the work in progress, presenting a series of evolving, paradoxical, overlapping paradigms, where histories are re-evaluated, cultural artefacts...Read more -
Under Construction
Group Exhibition 31 May - 26 Jun 2021 GalleryUnder Construction, a group exhibition held in two parts, presents a series of incomplete, evolving, overlapping, paradoxical concepts - building structures, formulating symbols, manufacturing appearance, fabricating histories and reconstituting anatomies....Read more -
Blue
Group Exhibition 21 Nov 2020 - 12 Jan 2021 GalleryBlue explores the dialectic between meaning and visual sensation. Saturated with meanings - freedom, intuition, imagination, expansiveness, inspiration, sadness, faith, spirituality, wisdom, peace, serenity, ethereality, infinity to name just a...Read more -
Extra Muros
Driss Ouadahi 15 May - 5 Sep 2019 GalleryWe welcome back Dusseldorf-based painter Driss Ouadahi to the gallery for Extra Muros (outside the walls), his third solo with a series of new paintings, which mark a departure from...Read more -
Materialize
Maliheh Afnan, Farhad Ahrarnia, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Asad Faulwell, Fathi Hassan, Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Mona Saudi, Driss Ouadahi, Shahpour Pouyan 18 Mar - 7 Apr 2019 GalleryOpening 18 March in Warehouse 13 -a large space just across from its gallery within Alserkal Avenue- Lawrie Shabibi presents a major group exhibition to coincide with the 12th edition...Read more -
Each Day An Artist
12 May - 1 Sep 2018 GalleryLawrie Shabibi is pleased to present “Each Day an Artist” from 12 May – [12 June], 2018. “Each Day an Artist” is an exhibition conceived for the holy month of...Read more -
UNSEEN
SUMMER GROUP EXHIBITION 25 May - 8 Sep 2016 GalleryFor the final exhibition of the season Lawrie Shabibi presents UNSEEN, a group show of recent works by artists from the gallery roster: Adel Abidin, Farhad Ahrarnia, Asad Faulwell, Driss...Read more -
Inside Zenith
2 Nov 2014 - 6 Jan 2015 GalleryLawrie Shabibi is pleased to welcome back Driss Ouadahi for his second solo exhibition with the gallery. Fresh from being awarded the Grand Prix Léopold Sédar Senghor Prize at the...Read more -
Breathing Space
Driss Ouadahi 6 Feb - 14 Mar 2012 GalleryLawrie Shabibi is proud to present Breathing Space- the first solo exhibition in the Middle East for Driss Ouadahi. For this exhibition Ouadahi continues to take as his subject matter...Read more
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Driss Ouadahi in San Francisco Art Enthusiast
San Francisco Art Enthusiast, San Francisco Art Enthusiast, August 4, 2016 -
Dream Idea Machine ART VIEW on Driss Ouadahi's 'Breach in the silence'
Dimitris Lempesis, Dreamideamachine ART VIEW -
'Driss Ouadahi Takes on Fences in Latest Exhibit' at Hosfelt Gallery, SF Gate Reports
Jessica Zack, SFGATE, July 13, 2016 -
Blurring the Lines | Driss Ouadahi in SWR
SWR, November 2, 2014 -
Driss Ouadahi in Diptyk
Syham Weigant, Diptyk - l'art vu du Maroc #24, September 1, 2014 -
Depth Beneath the Surface
Rebecca Anne Proctor, Canvas Guide, March 6, 2012
