YAZID OULAB

A thousand-facets artist with an ancestral soul Yazid Oulab seems to be nourished by centuries of civilizations. He is an interpreter and a messenger capable of analyzing and translating into simplified objects millennia of cultural, social and spiritual history. Son of a worker-mechanic-farmer father and a French teacher mother, Yazid Oulab is a real “storyteller. He is the accomplished artist, a man who, far from the excesses of today’s society, would always be ready to sacrifice his newly gained fame to art. He is a craftsman who is in love with the gesture, a fascinated and fascinating poet for whom the gaze generates meaning, a tireless witness and a potentially omniscient one. His works – objects, installations, sculptures and videos – represent tools of expression and communication that encourage us to consider the plurality of our times and measure the historical influence of all things.

Biography

Yazid Oulab was born in 1958 near Constantine in Algeria. Son of a mechanic and a French teacher, he is also the nephew of the writer Kateb Yacine.

As a teenager he often went to his uncle’s where he discovered the effervescence and intellectual dynamism of artistic circles. At the age of 22, he decided to study art and did everything possible to be accepted at the School of Fine Arts in Algiers. He spent nearly 6 years there before leaving for Marseille in 1988 to join the Lumigny School of Art. He also worked on construction sites to pay for his studies, particularly in masonry, where he acquired gestures and techniques that were invaluable to his artistic practice.

In 2008, he participated in the exhibition Les Traces du Sacré, at the National Museum of Modern Art, Center Pompidou and was resident artist at the Calder studio from February to July 2009. He was chosen this year to inaugurate the new building of the FRAC PACA on the occasion of Marseille European Capital of Culture 2013.

A man with a thousand facets and an ancestral soul Yazid Oulab is an artist who seems nourished by centuries of the most diverse and richest civilizations. He presents himself as an interpreter and a messenger, capable of analyzing and transcribing through simplified objects millennia of cultural, social and spiritual histories.

An indisputable craftsman in love with gesture, a fascinated and fascinating poet for whom the gaze gives birth to meaning, a tireless and potentially omniscient witness, Yazid Oulab embodies the figure of the accomplished artist. That of a man who, far from the excesses specific to our current societies, would be ready to give art its new letters of nobility.

His works, objects, installations, sculptures or videos are all tools of expression and communication that push us to consider the cultural plurality of our time while measuring the historical significance of everything.

As for him, much more than a visual artist, he is a true “storyteller”. Guide and philosopher, he makes us discover, or rediscover, the origins of writing, numbers, spirituality, religions or Nations. Between legends and stories to build Yazid Oulab is a frontier being who, like his favorite nails, strives to create links.

Son of a worker-mechanic-farmer father and an intellectual mother, French teacher, he represents, not only in his works but also in his life, the perfect balance between the work of the hand and the mind. A manual as well as a spiritual creator, he corrects the unfair dichotomy that would aim to separate these two complementary dimensions of design.

Career

EXPOSITIONS PERSONNELLES

2013
Entre deux rives, Galerie Loft, Paris, France
Peu à peu quoique aussitôt #1- le temps de la métamorphose, FRAC PACA
Le désir du rivage, Centre Richebois, Marseille, France
Projet Ulysse par l’association Voyons Voir, Centre Rochebois, France

2012
L’ère du graphite, Galerie Eric Dupont, Paris, France

2011
L’âge du graphite, Maison Salvan, Labege, France

2010
Galerie Eric Dupont, Paris, France
Tailler la montagne, ESAC Pau Expo, Pau., France

2009
Yazid Oulab Atelier Calder, Saché, France
Yazid Oulab Maison Max Ernst, Huismes.
Yazid Oulab Eglise Saint Nicolas, Tavant, France
Le lien, Centre d’art contemporain, Saint-Restitut, France

2008
Galerie Eric Dupont, Paris, France

2007
Galerie Eric Dupont, Paris, France

2003
Musée Archéologique d’Istres, France

2002
Galerie du Tableau, Marseille, France

2000
Médiathèque de Miramas, France

1997
Galerie du Tableau, Marseille, France

EXPOSITIONS COLLECTIVES

2022
" Corps Âmes ", Gallery LOFT, Paris

2013
Exposition d’inauguration du nouveau bâtiment du FRAC Paca, Marseille, France
Blicksachsen 9, Bad Hombourg, Allemagne
Logique de la Mappemonde, Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Bourges, France
Ici, ailleurs, Marseille-Provence 2013, France
Friche
La Belle de mai, Tour Panorama, Marseille, France
Ressources poétiques, nouvel accrochage de la collection, Musée Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France
L’art au défi de l’espérance, Mairie du VIe, Paris, France

2012
Ponctuation 11 / Le dessin éveillé, LAAC, Dunkerque
Ponctuation 15 / Éclats du monde, Musée de la Chartreuse, Douai, France
Traits d’Union, The Venue/solidere, Beyrouth, France
Trait papier, Musée des Beaux-arts de la Chaux de Fonds, Suisse
Traits d’Union, Musée national de Sanaa, Yémen 

2011
Magreb : Dos Orillas, Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Espagne
Traits d'union - Paris et l'art contemporain arabe, Villa Emerige, Paris, France
L'art comme un plaisir au quotidien, Bourg-en-Bresse, France
Le moins du monde, FRAC Lorraine, Metz, France
Small, Medium, Large, Donjon de Vez, France
En ce lieu ou presque #1, Domaine de Saint Ser, France
Architectures / Utopies / Dessins, collection du CNAP, MNAC, Bucarest, Roumanie
Wishing and praying, ADAA Art show, CRG Gallery, New York, USA
Wishing and praying, CRG Gallery, New York, USA
Tenir debout, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes, France

2010
Tenir debout, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes, France
Les Afriques autrement, Maison des arts, Bagneux, France
Des intrus au musée, Musée d’art et d’histoire, Chinon, France
Sans crayon sans gomme, Galerie des Grands Bains Douches de la Plaine, Marseille, France

2009
Nous, vous, ils ou elles, FRAC Picardie, Amiens, France
À Fleur de peau II – Le dessin à l’épreuve, Galerie Eric Dupont, Paris, France
Traversées, Espace Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japon
Out of storage II, Rythmes, Mudam, Luxembourg, France

2008
Cent, Galerie Defrost, Paris.
(A)pesanteur, FRAC Lorraine, Metz, France
Machines à rêve / Video Short List, Passage de Retz, Paris, exposition itinérante
Traces du Sacré, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Traces du Sacré, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Allemagne.
Palais de la Culture, Alger, France

2007
The Troubled Waters of Permeability, Parker’s Box, NY, USA
MUDAM Guest House 07, MUDAM Luxembourg, France
Dialogues Méditerranéens, Saint-Tropez, France

2005
À Fleur de peau, Galerie Eric Dupont, Paris, France
La Nuit Blanche, Église Saint-Séverin, Paris ; Galerie des Bains Douches, Marseille, France

2004
Voyage d’artistes, Espace Electra, Paris, France

2003
Galerie Martagon, Malaucène, France
Le Rectangle, Lyon, France
Le jardin de Leïla, Parc du Domaine Laval de Lyon, France

1998
Château de Servières, Marseille, France

1997
Culture et Entreprise, Ecole des beaux-arts, Aix-en-Provence, France

1996
Sur Invitation, Les Ateliers d’artistes de la ville de Marseille, France

1995
Les Effets du voyage, 25 artistes algériens, Palais de la Culture, Le Mans, France

1987
Biennale d’Ankara, Turquie

COLLECTIONS PUBLIQUES

2013
FRAC Picardie, Amiens, France

2012
Donation de la Fondation Guerlain au Centre Pompidou, France

2010
Ville de Marseille, France

2009
Musée des Abattoirs, Toulouse, France

2008
FNAC, Paris, France
FRAC Picardie, Amiens, France

2006
Fondation Musée d’Art Moderne Grand Duc Jean, Luxembourg, France
Musée des Abattoirs, Toulouse, France

2005
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France