Moroccan artist Yassine Balbzioui’s installation-performances and paintings are a take on bestiary
A creation from the veteran artist's collection titled - Solitary Spaces at Art Musings
It is hard to miss the absence of a human face in Moroccan artist Yassine Balbzioui’s work. The paintings, masked by objects, animals and birds, while stunning, often refer to bestiary, and tell stories or scenes based on characteristics of animals. Yassine who is currently in Hyderabad for a month-long residency at the Kalakriti Art Gallery will be displaying his work in an art exhibition here.
For Yassine, art comes naturally, having first started painting when he was all of seven, however the artwork with animals is pretty recent. Yassine says, “For me art is life and so when I look around there is inspiration everywhere. I started depicting the masked man in my work a few years ago. Many animals and humans share similar characteristics and so I showcase the animals that fit best in the situation.”
True to that, the oil paintings in his work in his current collection have chameleons. “In India people learn to adapt in whatever situations they are in. So when I was painting here as part of my residency, I used the chameleon to depict people’s ability to adapt,” he says.“I noticed the Nizam’s jewellery and the clothes that royalty wore back then, so one of my paintings has two little chameleons in clothes and jewellery that Hyderabadi royals wore,” he says after visiting the Salar Jung Museum.
As part of the current show, Yassine will be showcasing six oil paintings, nine watercolour works and four video presentations. His water colours are based on the tales of Panchatantra. “Since a few of the tales are told through two jackals Karataka and Damanaka, my watercolour works depict them in various situations,” explains Yassine who creates a storyboard before he starts working on each of his art piece.
In Yassine’s installation-performances he enacts a few scenes from his storyboard and records it. But, one video showcases a ‘travelling exhibition’ where two men take a painting around town in Senegal and record people’s reactions. “When art is put in the public space, it becomes people’s responsibility and that is how we bring people and art together,” he adds.
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