2 femmes autour d'un Basquiat, 2018
Zafi

Born in 1946 in Paris, Jean-Claude Fitoussi, alias Zafi by his artist name which is a tribute to his parents, is a painter who lives and works in the heart of the town of Cognac.

Coming from a family of 11 children, he is the 7th child of the siblings. He spent part of his youth in a reformatory in Bel-ile-en-mer. It was during this period that he first found this desire to paint, probably a deep desire to express himself, to externalize. However, he will be directed towards a completely different path, that of construction. Subsequently, Jean-Claude Fitoussi surrounded by his family is already at 20 years old familiar with culture by seeing two of his sisters as dancers for the singer Claude François, who will be the first Clodettes or other sisters rubbing shoulders with the world of cinema.

It was only much later, when he worked for the Parisian newspaper France-Soir, that his artistic side resurfaced, a period when he rubbed shoulders almost daily with the journalist and press boss Pierre Lazareff. Jean-Claude Fitoussi then immersed himself in photography, he walked around Paris with his camera in a style similar to Cartier-Bresson or Robert Doisneau. This was his first artistic activity, after a few years immortalizing the capital, it was from 1968 that Zafi began to frequent Parisian museums where he even met the artist Pierre Soulage one Sunday and by chance in the Trocadéro museum. He even went so far as to go to Auvers-sur-Oise to the tomb of Vincent Van Gogh, as well as to the room where the painter lived. This moment of meditation would be a real turning point for him. Later, in the 70s, he would still roam the capital day and night, but this time with his taxi that he would drive between 78 and 85, a period where he would keep many memories and memorable anecdotes. At the end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s, Jean-Claude Fitoussi, accompanied by his young son and one of his sisters, would take up his camera again to capture the street artists of the capital in action and their graffiti.

Self-taught, it was only around the age of fifty that Jean-Claude Fitoussi embarked on his first pictorial creations under the signature of Zafi, a signature whose initials united his two parents. Like a sponge, he soaked up and was inspired by the greatest masters, a way for him to practice by wandering between expressionism and art brut before spending an incalculable amount of time on cubism and in particular Pablo Picasso for whom he was passionate. A universe in which he would finally find something to feed his desire for creation, he watched, read, studied, learned to handle the brush, to master colors, shapes, painting and repainting again and again, before finally allowing himself to express himself by himself, transmitting and sharing his own universe.

In 2010, Jean-Claude Fitoussi escaped a tragedy. He was still working as an agent on a city site and was only a few months away from retirement but asked to leave, sensing a bad atmosphere. Once he had left his position, he learned 6 months later that his 3 colleagues had been killed by a mad shooter. Now free, he devoted himself more to painting, still creating works on paper and canvas in small formats. After these few years where he acquired a technique that he mastered more and more, his style, which would become unique and inimitable, gradually took shape under the watchful eye of his son who discovered art through his creations and would become his first fan. His art was already so contagious that the two of them were unknowingly preparing to form an exceptional duo.

It was from 2014 that Zafi's work was confronted with the eye of the general public at the art gallery that his son had just opened. After only a group exhibition two years earlier in a chapel in Charente in the heart of Cognac, some of his paintings appear alongside contemporary artists who are already very emerging or even renowned. But there you have it, the artist's brushstroke is broad, Zafi still likes to allow himself a few deviations by reproducing or interpreting works by masters. The duo formed by this young gallery owner and the artist will have a considerable impact for the future. Zafi's work gradually changes and evolves, the first large formats see the light of day and his creations leave less and less indifferent, challenge, question. Zafi creates and installs his artistic style mixing styles and genres sometimes different or he associates with a certain disconcerting ease his famous characters with other styles. He will keep this thread of artistic conduct cubism that he will take care to modernize while sometimes associating it with figurative, where geometric shapes as well as powerful colors burst forth. Like a cellar master, he assembles, mixes, composes until self-satisfaction, even if he never stops saying “there are no limits, cubism is an endless creation…".

The year 2018 is an important artistic year for the artist where his work will be highlighted during a Parisian fashion show whose theme will be a tribute to Picasso. On this occasion a designer will make some dresses inspired by the work of Zafi. That same year, the works of the artist from Cognac seduce the famous American promoter-architect Mohamed Hadid, father of the famous models of the same name. Also a painter and especially already recognized worldwide for his real estate creations, it is from a real crush on Zafi's paintings that an exceptional human and artistic collaboration will be born between these two enthusiasts and artists with the regular creation of various painted works between Cognac and Los Angeles. A story that will be shared on magazines in Los Angeles and the Middle East. This end of 2018 will be crowned by the major national media “Arts Magazine International" which will devote its cover to the artist's work with a double page citing as a critic “Inspired and inspiring works, masterfully renewing the cubism movement". A pretty destiny for the painter Zafi, when we know that Fernande Olivier, Pablo Picasso's first wife rests in Cognac, very close to his studio. The following year in 2019, Zafi showed generosity and offered a very beautiful painting which will be the subject of an auction at the Parisian house Drouot in favor of the Telethon and medical research, in addition to being exhibited on France Télévision, it will obtain one of the best gains among the 37 works.

After a long period of slowdown following the health crisis that will bring the world of culture to a standstill, Zafi's work will wait until 2023 and this important year full of events, where he will see his work rewarded with a certificate of artistic merit for his entire body of work awarded by the Pinacothèque du Luxembourg museum, as well as the following year. A recognition that doubly encourages the artist and his work who has been painting with only one eye for a year. Suffering from significant loss of sight, Zafi, who has started long-term monthly treatment since 2022 to preserve his eye, has been able to adapt and once again deal with this disadvantage. A disadvantage that pushes the artist to create and achieve the best of his art.

That same year, his work will be honored to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Roullet Cognac house with the release of a limited edition of the cubist carafe XO ART DE ZAFI. A year where his works will be exhibited at major international art fairs in Zurich and Lausanne (Switzerland), Brussels and the prestigious Art Fair Luxembourg where the artist will exceptionally make the trip, one of his rare appearances.

Zafi, an international artist whose works are collected in many countries, are part of a continuity and perpetuate, against current trends, a movement that he modernizes while imposing his own style.

“A work that smells of renewal" (Art Magazine)