"Yesterday, today, tomorrow, through the fragmentation of time, my painting is nothing more than a palimpsest that rehabilitates obscured memories".
Salim Le Kouaghet (Abdesselem Le Kouaghet, known as Salim )
Born in M'chatt El-Milia, Wilaya de Djidjelli, Algeria
Lives and works in Arcy-sainte-Restitue, France
Salim Le Kouaghet is a painter who graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts de Constantine in 1970, and from the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts d'Alger in interior architecture. In 1973, he continued his studies in visual communication at the Beaux-Arts et Arts Appliqués de Metz, before successfully completing a course in scenography at the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in 1975. Keen to further his artistic career, he studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris and the Université de Paris VIII, under the guidance of Frank POPPER, art theorist, critic and curator emeritus.
A 1980 graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Pierre MATTHEY workshop, Salim Le Kouaghet's artistic roots lie in night and artificial light. His career as lighting technician at Olympia Bruno COQUATRIX from 1976 to 1996 was no accident.
His pictorial style emerged in the 1970s/1980s, and although his work is not directly influenced, he is associated with Antoni TAPIES and Lucio FONTANA.
In the 1970s, he pioneered the integration of Arabic letters and Amazigh signs, contributing to the "sign school" movement. He stretches, staples, nails and lacerates his canvases in search of vital space, revealing the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, Alif, through tearing. Berber characters sometimes mingle with his writing.
His attachment to tradition and craftsmanship is reflected in his work, particularly in the representation of the Kabyle carpet, transcribed onto his sculptures in the form of Alif, becoming the mainstay of Wast-ed-Dar "وسط الدار". "I've discovered the triangle of my Kabylie. As in the past, I reinvent my writing: the vertical stroke ▌, the horizontal stroke ▬, the ●, the ▲, a random calligraphic pattern inlays the surface of my canvases." The format of his canvases is often square, reminiscent of Wast-ed-Dar. The vertical line ▌ and the stripe take possession of the volume of this space, creating a link between his art and traditional Algerian architecture.
Salim Le Kouaghet's works can be found in private collections and prestigious institutions, including the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou in Paris and the FRAC (Fonds régional d'art contemporain) in Paris.