Here and Now

Aïcha has been through a lot. She came to France as an adopted child and grew up there in rather difficult circumstances. Today she lives in Mallorca and has embarked on the adventure of painting. Filled with stringency and immediacy, her paint­ings are undisguised – they are, as far as the artist’s biography is concerned, characterized by a deep authenticity that encourages viewers to ­immerse themselves in them. After all, the figures in her recent large-format paintings are life-size and seek dialogue at eye level with us. Aïcha uses painting to get her story off her chest. In her world of images she returns to her childhood and youth, arranges the things of every­day life, orchestrates the little stories. And yet, there is always some­thing threaten­ing, a gloomy mood perceptible in the background. Her pic­torial composition does ­appear classically trained, the interaction of the pictorial objects seems to be formally con­­ceived with com­plete ­sovereignty, the ­motifs ­instantly communicate themselves to the viewer. Aïcha could very well have been a prominent player in Art Brut, but she paints here and now, so that the powerful pictorial language cannot be called any­thing other than sensational.

World premiere:
The Beauty of Diversity, Albertina modern, Vienna, 16/2 – 18/8/2024