Farah Atassi

Farah Atassi's paintings, positioned at the edges of the narrative, skillfully blend textile patterns and motley mosaics, drawing inspiration equally from Modernism and Folk Art.

Biography of Farah Atassi

Farah Atassi, born in 1981 in Brussels, currently resides and works in Paris. She completed her studies at ENSBA in 2005.

In 2012, she received the Prix Jean-François Prat, and in 2013, she was nominated for the Prix Marcel Duchamp. Subsequently, she embarked on a residency at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York.

Her art has been displayed at prominent venues such as the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris and the Palais de Tokyo. In 2014, Farah Atassi's solo exhibitions were held at Le Grand Café, Centre d'art contemporain de Saint-Nazaire in France, and Le Portique, Centre d'art contemporain du Havre in France. Another solo show took place at the Extra City Kunsthal in Antwerp in 2015. In 2018, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Cambrai in France showcased her work in a solo exhibition. This was followed by an exhibition at the Consortium in Dijon, France, in 2019.

Notably, Farah Atassi's art is part of prestigious collections, including the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, the Fondation Louis Vuitton - LVMH, the Marciano Collection in Los Angeles, and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, among others.

Farah Atassi's Art Style

Atassi's artistic inspiration derives from both ornamentation and modernism, culminating in a pictorial language characterized by the stylization of her drawings, subdued color palettes, and a cubist interpretation of space. Her paintings possess a conceptual figurativeness, evoking the cubist aesthetics that Picasso developed towards the end of the 1910s, including his 1915 work "Harlequin," his refined still-life collages, and early "Bathers."

Atassi's paintings are distinguished by vibrant geometric shapes and clever plays on perspective. They create imaginary yet inhabited spaces that, through visual illusions that confuse depth and imminence, remain elusive to complete comprehension. The artist employs two primary methodological elements: a meticulous assembly of images and a grid created with masking tape to systematize the patterns produced within abandoned interiors or scenes reminiscent of her still-life depictions. In her own words, Atassi's creations can be described as "figurative paintings that depict abstraction."