Observation at Atelier 21, Photo: Souad Belhaj "La nuit des Galeries au Maroc" (Night of Galleries of Morocco) we took two full sedans and visited several galleries in Casablanca. Our group consisted of French, Moroccan, Scottish, Welsh and a gal from Idaho (it is its own country no?) . The night was organized to exhibit art in every major city in the county. Casablanca, Fez, Marrakech Rabat, Tangier, Ouarzazate, and many others.
We set out to see a number of galleries, planning to end at ex Cathédrale du Sacré-Coeur, a decommissioned Catholic church in downtown. We started at Atelier 21 which exhibited its entire stable of artists; about 20, in a magnificent well-lit place.
The night was electric as everyone involved with the arts was traversing the town to see as much art as possible. We visited several, then Sacré-Coeur. To my great surprise, here in what I thought to be a very conservative city, twelve artist were exhibiting large and small canvases of nudes. Shock. Some of my Moroccan artist friends were there to gauge the acceptance of their new works.
Now it is important to say that I had just completed a 2.8 meters wide (9') canvas of an over-scale nude and was thinking "now what will I do with a canvas like this ... in a country like this?"
So, I told one of my painter friends who was on-hand about my latest work. He asked me to bring my work to exhibit with them at Sacre Coeur the very next day. I couldn't argue with this opportunity so got up early, hired a livery and hung the work at 10 AM.
My honor was to be accepted into the circle of older (and younger) artists here in Casablanca.
A dream come true for me. ~ TR
We set out to see a number of galleries, planning to end at ex Cathédrale du Sacré-Coeur, a decommissioned Catholic church in downtown. We started at Atelier 21 which exhibited its entire stable of artists; about 20, in a magnificent well-lit place.
The night was electric as everyone involved with the arts was traversing the town to see as much art as possible. We visited several, then Sacré-Coeur. To my great surprise, here in what I thought to be a very conservative city, twelve artist were exhibiting large and small canvases of nudes. Shock. Some of my Moroccan artist friends were there to gauge the acceptance of their new works.
Now it is important to say that I had just completed a 2.8 meters wide (9') canvas of an over-scale nude and was thinking "now what will I do with a canvas like this ... in a country like this?"
So, I told one of my painter friends who was on-hand about my latest work. He asked me to bring my work to exhibit with them at Sacre Coeur the very next day. I couldn't argue with this opportunity so got up early, hired a livery and hung the work at 10 AM.
My honor was to be accepted into the circle of older (and younger) artists here in Casablanca.
A dream come true for me. ~ TR
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