Larbi Cherkaoui: Spirit of the letter

9 February - 12 March 2021

Visual artist Larbi Cherkaoui shows his work for the first time in a solo exhibition at the L'Atelier 21 art gallery. Entitled “Spirit of the letter”, this exhibition is dedicated to the mystery of the letter, elevated to the status of both a spiritual and plastic motif.

As art critic Abderrahman Benhamza writes, “Larbi Cherkaoui's lettering is sober, allusive, sometimes self-effacing, rarely quotational, still less decorative. It's possible to recognize written matter in his work through the alphabetical structure; certain words that lend themselves to legibility even produce a simulacrum of meaning... However, this is not the aim for Cherkaoui, who doesn't 'write' his letters; his language is first and foremost plastic, to be appreciated in its beautiful, ample gesturality.”