Benyounès Semtati
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Benyounès Semtati

Morocco • 1966

Biography

Benyounès Semtati is a Moroccan artist born in Oujda, Morocco in 1966 who lives and works in Paris, France.

Having always lived in France, he joined the School of Fine Arts of Saint-Étienne, but his personal choices and professional circumstances quickly led him to Arles and Marseille. He then decided to travel and after doing a tour of Europe and through the United States, he finally decided to settle in Paris.

His multiples trips to New York nevertheless helped him get out of a sort of impasse in his artistic production caused by his academic education which slowed down the energy of his paintings. The US capital helped him to change his landmarks and accept to let go.

When he decided to work on paper, his attitude towards the piece changed and new figures appeared in his compositions. In his paintings and drawings, abstraction gradually conquered its space, and narration became more discreet.

His works has been exhibited in Düsseldorf, London, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Stockholm and in Paris at the Center Georges Pompidou as part of the group exhibition Africa Remix (2005).
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