MOHAMED KAHOUADJI

Born in Algiers in 1979, Mohamed Kahouadji is a self-taught painter and sculptor, passionate about Japanese art, the culture of the manga that rocked his childhood. A true homage to Japanese history, his works merge different eras and references according to his imagination and his visions. Mixing ancestral techniques and icons of Asian Pop Culture, his art astonishes, becoming a tribute as explosive as it is fascinating.

His work pays homage to an art form that has taken root on the European continent through a Western prism. The artist speaks of a form of revenge of the East on the West, reaffirming the know-how of Japanese artists, particularly the Shin-Hanga movement. Indeed, he revisits the art of prints, the representation of nature and its cults.

In his works, the artist reinterprets the figures of Manga art, and makes them sacred by integrating them into utopian, poetic and grandiose natural landscapes. He then gives all its importance to nature and its beauty, which will become one of his central themes. Polymorphous clouds, vibrant skies and vast expanses of water justify his pigmented gradations softened by the sfumato technique. Mohamed Kahouadji works essentially with pure pigment inks, which are consequently very intense and allow the pores of the cotton paper to show through.
The red pigments can also be seen in Kyujitsu, a powerful set featuring the characters from the manga Dragon Ball Z by the renowned mangaka Akira Toriyama.

In building his harmonious worlds, he manipulates many techniques. Insatiable, he tries, adds, sometimes superimposes up to twenty layers to obtain glazes and sfumato, and observes the material react to the contact of the cotton supports. He tries out techniques, launches into a new discipline, consumes it, and starts again.
This visual experimentation leads him to work with POSCA and selective varnish. In the same way, he uses microblasted stainless steel, ceramic paint and mirror polish to create his sculptures.