CULTURES INTERFACE MUSTAPHA AZEROUAL

1 CulturesInterface Portfolio 2014 Mustapha Azeroual CULTURES INTERFACE Created in 2010, CulturesInterface is a private company which produces and distributes contemporary art from North Africa and the Mediterranean.

As well as using its own gallery walls in Casablanca, Morocco, CulturesInterface has resolved to become an itinerant gallery travelling throughout Africa, Europe and the Americas. This concept allows us to provide a multitude of services adapted to various places and art works. Through its mobility and flexibility, CulturesInterface participates at biennales and fairs as well as it collaborates with international struc- tures and art galleries having common goals.

As such, we promote artists internationally by offering turnkey exhibi- tions through our curating services and by commissioning works of art for both public and private exhibition.

2 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual MUSTAPHA AZEROUAL

Born in Tours, France, in 1979, Mustapha Azeroual lives and works in Paris, France.

An engineer by training, Azeroual’s work is based on observation and experimentation, combining historical shooting and printing techniques with contemporary issues regarding photography. Between installations, objects and sequences, his works multiply the scope and dimensions of photography. Through his photographic work, Mustapha Azeroual attempts to give back to the spectator what the photographer traditionally removes when they impose a point of view, a frame and a defined subject. Mustapha Azeroual has been represented by CulturesInterface since 2014. That same year, the MACAAL (Musée d’art contemporain africain Al Maaden in Morocco), acquired a photographic installation by the artist. His latest project as a photographer, ELLIOS, led him to the residency program in Oukaïmeden, Morocco with CulturesInterface in May 2015, as well as a partnership with LESIA (Solar Observation Department at the Observatory of Paris-Meudon).

3 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Radiance #1 - 2013 M1_1

Polychrome gum bichromate print Constant height: 35 cm; variable width between 40 and 45 cm Edition of 3 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

The series Radiance #1 and Radiance #2 focus on how color is recorded in photography based on the premise that, according to the medium, the photographer only has limited control over the colors that they capture and photographically reproduce.

In the Radiance #1 series, M1 questions the very nature of color in photography. Indeed, in this series, the photographer builds upon his black and white shots, which he reinterprets during the gum bichromate printing phase, a pigment process allowing him to colorize the image. We thus find ourselves face to face with colors spawned directly from the photographer’s imagination and not the result of photographic recording.

4 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Radiance #1 - 2013 M1_2

Polychrome gum bichromate print Constant height: 35 cm; variable width between 40 and 45 cm Edition of 3 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

5 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Radiance #1 - 2012 V1_1

Color print, RA-4 process* 15 x 15 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

Here, the method of representation is changed dramatically by foregoing the square format for a diamond shape in order to move closer towards a chromatic study and away from a purely photographic representation.

* printing using color negatives

6 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Radiance #1 - 2012 V1_1 / V1_2 / V1_3 / V1_4

Color print, RA-4 process 15 x 15 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

7 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Radiance #2 - 2014

Ink-jet printing on 70gr/m2 Kozo paper 59 x 59 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

In the Radiance #2 series, the photographer records color variations during sunrise and sunset and reproduces them in these landscapes composed of purely photographic colors. His fascination with medium, a recurring subject in Mustapha Azeroual’s work, has driven him, in this series, to investigate different types of Japanese paper and their ability to become one with the image.

8 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Radiance #2 - 2014

Ink-jet printing on 70gr/m2 Kozo paper 59 x 59 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

9 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Radiance #2 - 2014

Ink-jet printing on 70gr/m2 Kozo paper 59 x 59 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

10 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Radiance #2 - 2014

Ink-jet printing on 70gr/m2 Kozo paper 59 x 59 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

11 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Radiance #2 - 2014

Ink-jet printing on 70gr/m2 Kozo paper 59 x 59 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

12 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Radiance #2 - 2014

Ink-jet printing on 70gr/m2 Kozo paper 59 x 59 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

13 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Série Phenomenon #1 - 2014 Relief #1_OK

Ink-jet printing on 70 gr/m2 Okashi paper 59 x 59 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

Phenomenon #1 is a series of works that experiment with photographic formats and the transformation of representation methods in photography. This research is conveyed through several devices, which dissociate the image and its format and experiment with the industrial production methods of images as well as photographic representation methods.

In the two three-dimensional works from the series, Mustapha Azeroual decided to use drapery as a reference to the sculptural as well as a way to aesthetically play with the concept of soft images*. It is the focus on the material itself, which gives these works their shape and relief.

14 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Série Phenomenon #1 - 2014 Relief #1_B

4 gum bichromate prints on Okashi Japanese paper sewed and hung from porcelain hooks Surface: 80 x 100 cm Single edition + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

* In photography, the term soft image designates an image, which has lost all its photographic qualities: definition, contrast, acutance (cellphone pictures or digitally enlarged images)

15 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Série Phenomenon #1 - 2014 Relief #1_GB

Monochrome gum bichromate print 70 x 70 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

In Relief#1 GB, the photographer also uses this sculptural reference, but this time as a means of revealing the image. Indeed, the printing process used, gum bichromate, is a long process during which the image appears by superimposing successive layers of pigments. It is this notion of reproducibility that interests the photographer: the more the image appears, the more it distances itself from the original image, making the final print a one-of-a-kind work.

16 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Série Phenomenon #1 - 2014 Relief #2_GB

Monochrome gum bichromate print 70 x 70 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

17 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Série Phenomenon #1 - 2014 Relief #3_GB

Monochrome gum bichromate print 70 x 70 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

18 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Série Phenomenon #2 - 2015 Relief #3_1

Polychrome gum bichromate print on 100% cotton paper 37 x 47 cm Edition of 3 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

Continuing with the theme in Phenomenon #1, the second component of this series focuses on the transition of representation to abstraction. Throughout this series, the photographer took his inspiration from abstract painters who, in the 1920s, were asked to create camouflage patterns, and uses this idea of the “soft image” again, giving it color and matter thanks to the gum bichromate printing process.

19 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Série Phenomenon #2 - 2015 Relief #3_2

Polychrome gum bichromate print on 100% cotton paper 37 x 47 cm Edition of 3 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

20 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Série Phenomenon #2 - 2015 Relief #3_3

Polychrome gum bichromate print on 100% cotton paper 37 x 47 cm Edition of 3 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

21 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Série Phenomenon #2 - 2015 Relief #3_4

Polychrome gum bichromate print on 100% cotton paper 37 x 47 cm Edition of 3 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

22 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Série Phenomenon #1 - 2014 Relief #1_BOX_1/2/3/4

Photographic film: 13 x 18 cm Box: 13 x 20 x 16 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

In this series, the photographer projects a digital image on black and white film in order to compare different methods of representation in photography. The structure of the image itself (pixels, grain) is what appears through the light box.

23 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Série Phenomenon #2 - 2015 Relief #3

UV ink-jet printing on Brusan© aluminum 90 x 110 cm 3 print editions + 1 AP 3 positive print editions + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

Once again continuing with the theme explored in the Phenomenon series, the photographer goes back to the inseparable link between image and format. Here, Brusan© aluminum is used for its extreme fragility as well as its capacity to take shape. With every manipulation that alters the aluminum, the work bears traces of its experience and becomes, through this process, unique.

24 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Résurgence #1 - 2010 Arbre #1

Tree-shaped mobile composed of 200 gum bichromate prints on porcelain plates 1,50 m x 1,50 m - Height: 3,10 m Single edition

By using the image of the tree as an element of the collective memory, Mustapha Azeroual questions, in the Résurgence series, image fragmentation and its appropriation, by making the spectator recognize, fragment by fragment, a familiar image. In perpetual motion, the mobile’s 200 contact prints on porcelain plates thus make the spectator integral to the discovery of the image.

25 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Résurgence #2 - 2014 V

Gum bichromate print on porcelain 3 sizes: Small: L 9,5 x l 9 x h 6 cm / 220 gr Medium: L 15,5 x l 13 x h 8 cm / 620 gr Big: L 25 x l 21 x h 12 cm / 1750 gr Single edition Courtesy of the artist

The porcelain shapes, onto which the gum bichromate images are directly printed, are a variation on this notion of fragmentation. They are three-dimensional works that sustain this link between sculpture and photography, a subject dear to Mustapha Azeroual.

26 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Résurgence #2 - 2014 VP

Gum bichromate print on porcelain 3 sizes: Small: L 9,5 x l 9 x h 6 cm / 220 gr Medium: L 15,5 x l 13 x h 8 cm / 620 gr Big: L 25 x l 21 x h 12 cm / 1750 gr Single edition Courtesy of the artist

27 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Résurgence #2 - 2014 VM

Gum bichromate print on porcelain 3 sizes: Small: L 9,5 x l 9 x h 6 cm / 220 gr Medium: L 15,5 x l 13 x h 8 cm / 620 gr Big: L 25 x l 21 x h 12 cm / 1750 gr Single edition Courtesy of the artist

28 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Echo #1 - 2015 Dag

Contemporary Daguerreotype Print 16 x 20 cm Single edition + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

In keeping with the ELLIOS project carried out by Mustapha Azeroual in partnership with LESIA (Solar Observation Department for the Observatory of Paris-Meudon), the Echo series is a photographic study of the sun. In this series, the photographer attempts to define an inventory of light’s shape by capturing flashes, photographic substitutes for the sun. Through this work, Mustapha Azeroual tries to materialize light, a condition of the visible, which is paradoxically invisible. .

29 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Altérations #1 - 2011

UltraChrome K3 Digigraphie printing on 115gr/m2 folded Epson paper 128 x 100 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP Courtesy of the artist

The photographs from the Altérations series were taken with a during Azeroual’s travels. Each image thus contains a remnant of the preceding image. These partially superimposed images are created via a selection process using photographic film, which determines what will remain visible in the image. The prints are folded and travel this way, so as to carry the traces of the journey with them. Through this series, Mustapha Azeroual questions the impact of the past on the present and the vestige of this impact on a perpetually moving present.

30 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual CURRI- CULUM VITAE

Mustapha Azeroual Born in 1979 in Tours (Fr) French-Maroccan Lives and works in Paris, France

31 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Solo Exhibitions 2015 Photographic Form, Art Factum Gallery - Beirut Light Engram#2, Centre d’Art des Rives -Saint-Avertin Ligth Engram, Maison Molière - Arles Reliefs#2, Galerie Binôme - Paris Reliefs, Art Factum Gallery - Beirut 2012 Engram, allegory of the visible, Art Factum Gallery - Beirut Radiance, Galerie HorsChamp - Sivry-Courtry 2011 Solo Exhibition, Galerie Sanaga - Tours Solo Exhibition at the Librairie photographique – Paris

Main Group Exhibitions 2015 Discours de la lumière, as part of the Biennial of Photography in the Contemporary Arab World, Galerie Binôme - Paris L’arbre, le bois, la forêt, CAC de Meymac NOW, CulturesInterface - Casablanca 2014 Nouveau Paysage, Galerie Binôme - Paris 2013 X-Y-Z, Galerie Quad - Derby (UK) Art Factum Gallery - Beirut 2012 All down the line, Art Factum Gallery - Beirut Galerie KO 21 - Paris L’Arbre et le photographe, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris 2011 La Commanderie, invited by Laurent Lafolie - Lacommande Artcité, Fontenay-sous-Bois 2010 Framing Abstraction, Galerie espace Lhomond - Paris. 2009 Librairie photographique - Paris 2008 Chambre noire avec vues, Abbaye de Noirlac 2007 Renaissance, organized by the Mode d’emploi association, Ecole des beaux-arts de Tours

32 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Art Fairs 2016 Capetown Art Fair represented by Mariane Ibrahim Gallery - Capetown Art Paris Art Fair represented by Galerie Binôme - Paris 2015 Slick Art Fair represented by Galerie Binôme - Paris Art 14 art Fair represented by Art Factum Gallery – London Art Paris Art Fair represented by Galerie Binôme – Paris 2013 Slick Art Fair represented by Galerie Binôme - Paris Fotofever Art Fair represented by Galerie Binôme - Paris Design Days Dubai represented by Art Factum Gallery - Dubai Beirut Art Fair 2013 represented by Art Factum Gallery - Beirut Art O’Clock Art Fair represented by Galerie Binôme – Paris 2012 Beirut Art Fair 2012 represented by Art Factum Gallery - Beirut

Residencies 2015 Creation Residency “Tide” as part of the Fresh Winds Biennial - Iceland Creation Residency “ELLIOS#1” with CulturesInterface in Oukaïmeden - Morocco Workshop Residency at La Capsule, Photo Creation Center - Le Bourget 2014 Residency at the ECM Chaplin - Mantes-La-Jolie 2013 Residency at Informelles with Groupenfonction, Théâtre des Bernardines - Marseille 2012 Creation Residency “Variation #1” at L’Octroi - Tours 2011 Creation Residency with the Groupenfonction at Volapük - Tours 2010 Creation Residency “Résurgences” at La Capsule, Photo Creation - Le Bourget Artist/Company Residency as part of the Tours region’s company patronage program - Tours 2009 Writer Residency with the Groupenfonction at pOlau - St-Pierre-des-Corps 2008 Creation Residency “Déconstruction” at the Centre d’Art des Rives - Saint-Avertin

33 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual Contact

Nawal Slaoui Maroc (GSM) : +212 (0) 661 166 396 Maroc (Bur.) : +212 (0) 522 951 871 France (GSM) : +33 (0) 689 184 046 Email : [email protected] www.culturesinterface.com 34 CulturesInterface Portfolio Mustapha Azeroual