The architectural and aesthetics of Karim Marrakchi’s universe are related to Casablanca where he was born in 1959. Morocco ‘s light as well as a daily intimacy with the ocean, its moving presence towards the horizon, have left a mark that inspired his work and led the artist’s work to a metaphysic questioning: nature and its initial erected magnificence facing the social comedy in which the human divinity weakens in an aesthetic squeak. Finally, the reopening towards the mystery of inner worlds and of the divine traces even on faces invaded by the nostalgia of loss and the fusion of mineral, vegetal and human worlds. Casablanca is also the laboratory city of the architecture of the beginning of the 20th century, one of the richest of Africa, through its decorative art heritage. One can find in Karim Marrakchi’s work a need for mastering vanishing lines and composition, and also a concern to build that supports the artist stubborn questioning: how to live in this world without breaking with the divine origins of life, the creation mystery and the freedom of being. In 1982, Karim Marrakchi left his birth place Casablanca for Paris to study at the “Ecole Spéciale d'architecture” but his passion for plastic arts never left him and in parallel, he attended the art classes of Henri Martin and was taught by Paul Virilio. On his return to Morocco in 1990, he worked as an architect in Casablanca, designing buildings that left their mark on the city and established in the urban landscape, his concern to reconcile the way of living on the inhabitants and the art deco heritage of the city, in which his project was subtly embedded. He took part in large rehousing operations in the framework of the program launched by the Moroccan state in 1981: Cities without Slums. However, his binding commitments as an architect did not necessarily mean a break with plastics arts. It was then that he developed a series entitled ”Ain” dedicated to the bestiary of social and worldly life of Casablanca, which reflects his questioning of worldliness and its avatars at the heart of his aesthetic work. From 2005 onwards, his demands as an artist took over and he devotes himself exclusively to painting on multiple supports: canvas, plexiglass, glass and paper. However, it is the glass medium that will enable him to develop his relation with light. He revisits his approach to art from top to bottom by integrating the sensitive questions of brightness, matiness, opacity and by welcoming reflections as a material being an integral part of the painting, thus linking it to the cycles of natural light and shadow decline, breaking with what separate art from the living life. It wasn’t until 2011 that he decided to open his work to the public.
2011, gallery Chaibia, El Jadida, Morocco
2012, gallery Mohamed Drissi, Ministry of culture, Tanger, Morocco
2012, book edition “ un chemin vers le réenchantement’
2013, gallery noir sur blanc, Marrakech, Morocco
2013, gallery four seasons, Marrakech, Morocco
2013, gallery Thuiller, Paris, France
2016, exhibition installation, villa Karim Marrakchi, Casablanca
2018/2020, Dharra, the metamorphosis of an unique architectura into a piece of art, unraveling the poetry of the artist in an immersive and sensitive deep-dive, Marrakech, Morocco