![Painting, Ahmar, Said Ouarzaz](https://media.artsper.com/artwork/327529_1_s.jpg)
by Said Ouarzaz
Painting : oil
120 x 120 x 3 cm 47.2 x 47.2 x 1.2 inch
Second NOT DISPLAYED BLUR TEXT
Free returns within 14 days
Authenticity guaranteed
Learn moreSecure payment
About the artwork
Type
Unique work
Signature
Hand-signed by artist
Authenticity
Sold with certificate of Authenticity from the gallery
Invoice from the gallery
Dimensions cm • inch
120 x 120 x 3 cm 47.2 x 47.2 x 1.2 inch Height x Width x Depth
Support
Framing
Black wood floater frame
Artwork dimensions including frame
128 x 128 x 5 cm 50.4 x 50.4 x 2 inch
Artwork sold in perfect condition
Artwork location: Spain
About the seller
Professional art gallery • France
Artsper seller since 2017
Vetted Seller
This seller rewards your purchases of multiple artworks
Imagine it at home
![Said Ouarzaz, Alhob Said Ouarzaz, Alhob](https://media.artsper.com/artwork/1148883_1_l.jpg)
Discover more by the artist
Presentation
In 1996, Frédéric Damgaard, this great talents scout of the city of Essaouira exhibited Saïd Ouarzaz. He then described his painting as being “gestural” and “dazzling”, “immediate”. Today we are presented with this primordial strength again. This self-taught painter has created a unique universe from his almost animist ancestral representations. Ouarzaz is not the thread of history, he is both beneath and beyond history as his peers Tabal, Baki, Maimoun or Ben Ali, but with something so peculiar that it would not be possible to talk of Art Brut or Naïve Art.
A School of Essaouira school or singular artists ?
Ouarzaz is related to a phenomenon that raises perplexity and often referred as the School of Essaouira. According to Mickaël Faure, there is no such thing as the School of Essaouira, but rather an « artistic community of Essaouira », the one of artists referred to as “singular” which is an informal community of strange and quirky creators highly individualistic, foreign to the usual circuit of art and to its codes, its arcanes and multiple protagonists. The same critic mentions “some common denominators beyond a logical diversity of forms”. For instance, the colored dot, so peculiar of a powerful pictural way in Essaouira {…} a way of painting the dot more consistent with African or Aboriginal art {…}, the color so various and present, as a master, {and forms}, rhythms and their motifs often repeated and audacious : similar to entangled and continuous curbs, lines or overlays of distorted figures that intermingle”. The painting of Ouarzaz indeed asserts itself in this trend with its animal and vegetal figures inspired but not reduced by a peasant universe.
“The art, it’s the earth !”
Ouarzaz comes with no doubt from a southern Moroccan soil and belongs to our times. However he seems to escape classifications. To join Ouarzaz family, one has to enter the backcountry of Essaouira where the trade winds don’t get to. We even left the argan trees to drive into semi-arid landscapes. Wadis are dry. Earth is gullied. At the end of the path, we eventually went by foot on these Berber edges in a sweltering heat. A donkey appeared. It showed us the way with its swinging tail setting the pace of a time that no longer was ours. Altogether felt from our shoulders the weight of our schedules, and our appointments. We had to abandon the straight line for a winding course and enter another space-time. Ouarzaz house is simple and harsh to get shelter from the climate, welcome the family and friends and work. The hospitality is infinite. This simplicity, the strength of the social bonds, the nearness of the earth, the lack of artistic or school education, specifically, make them close of the Australian aboriginal to whom we owe the formula : “The art, it’s the earth !”
The time of the dream.
“Referring to the aboriginal people, Marcia Langton, uses the term “the people of artists”. “{To them}, art is essential. It gives basis to {their} identity, {their} relationship with earth : there lies the secret of {their} survival. {Their} symbolic world always gave structure to {their} society”. The same author adds “Earth is the beaux-arts. The more humanity will have consciousness of it, the better it will hold the living society in harmony”. These works belong to “the time of the dream”. “Dream” on aboriginal soil is the generic name of paintings and sculptures. For “every dream is regularly painted or sculpted”. The objects that we find in some of aboriginal exhibitions such as shields, propellers, stone-knives, caps and mother-of-pearl shells, illustrate the continuum between past, present and future, which is a core concept to the art and culture of the western desert and to Tjukurrpa (the time of the dream) ». Peasant-painter, Ouarzaz, also paints dreams as trances and lives in the time of the earth. Only where paintings are titles of ownership, and in the name of a centuries-old tradition, and are recognized in justice, Ouarzaz asserts his own truly work of art.
In Ouarzaz’ paintings one often finds demons figures, in the sense of a familiar genius, half-man, half-animal, as a spirit that go with us. Socrates had his daimôn who uttered some answers. Plato, in Symposium, comes back to these beings intermediating between men and gods and thanks to whom divination and magic are made possible. Some of those beings are seen dancing in Tabal’s works. Ouarzaz’ daimôn is stronger, taller. He can invade all the canvas and take the spectator with him. The strength of Ouarzaz’ work derives from this telluric genius. It’s him driving us to a world that seems close to Jackson Pollock’s. When Pollock starts from the western art to get to the Amerindians’ cosmogony. Ouarzaz starts from his soil to get to the an abstraction which plays along with dripping and renewed technics (dilutions, stains, overlays).
In his cosmogony, there is room for geniuses and a certain modernity. The traces of tradition slowly disappear and are drawn into a dizzying swirl made of colors, but the initial energy is not undone. This Dionysian genius is sometimes figured, but always present.
It’s Ouarzaz’ genius that leads the dance.
- Alexandre Pajon
Protect your purchase
We’re here to help you collect art securely. When you browse and buy on Artsper, you benefit from our guaranteed protections.
Buy works from the best galleries
We partner with the best art galleries. All sellers on Artsper have been carefully reviewed and approved by our team. All of our partner galleries respect our code of ethics.
Know what you’re getting
Each work on Artsper is studied and validated by our team before appearing online. Get personalized support Contemporary art specialists are available by phone and email to answer all of your questions about our works of art. Get personalized advice and curated suggestions for your collection.
Resell your artworks
As a private individual, you have the possibility to resell on Artsper your works acquired on Artsper. For more information click here.
Make an offer with Artsper
Negotiate prices
Price negotiation is possible. Like in a gallery, this allows you to open a discussion and purchase your works at your preferred price.
Get our help negotiating
Let our team handle the negotiations and get back to you once the best deal is made.
Order safely
Artsper’s satisfaction guarantee
With Artsper, you have the opportunity to return a work free of charge within 14 days of receipt if it does not suit you, for whatever reason. You will then receive a full refund for your order.
Protect your purchase with Artsper’s payment partners
All credit card payments are processed by Paybox, the trusted leader in payment processing for international businesses. Paybox ensures the highest level of security.
Get specialized support from Artsper in the event of a problem
On the rare occasion that a work of art arrives in a different condition than described, we will work to administer a return, refund, restoration or exchange for you. Our team will always keep you informed on the progress of your request and will go above and beyond to offer you personalized solutions.
To benefit from Artsper’s protections you must:
-
Place your order using one of Artsper's payment methods.
-
Report any issues to Artsper within one week of receiving your work.
-
Provide all requested photographic evidence of the problem (including the original artwork and packaging).
Artsper’s guarantee covers the following problems:
-
You receive a work that’s missing a described characteristic (such as a signature or a frame)
-
You receive a work with different characteristics than those described at the time of purchase
-
You receive a damaged piece of work
-
Your purchase is declared lost or damaged during transit
-
You receive a work that is a different in color than what you ordered
-
Your purchase is delayed
Artsper gives you access to the largest catalog of contemporary artworks, from the best galleries (200,000 works, 25,000 artists, 2,000 partner galleries).
We select the galleries with which we collaborate. This demanding selection, operated by our team of experts, offers you several guarantees:
- Double expertise regarding the quality and originality of the works. On the one hand by professional galleries that select their artists and works. On the other hand by Artsper which selects its partner galleries according to the quality of their catalog and their reputation.
- Access to the entire catalog of works from our partner galleries, sold at the same price as in the gallery.
- The possibility of returning purchased works (within 14 days) if they do not suit you, wherever you are in the world. Which is not the case outside Artsper.
- The possibility of easily reselling the work you purchased on Artsper.
We also facilitate the search for works according to your preferences thanks to our intelligent features such as:
- Your custom selection, created based on your tastes;
- Your custom universe, choose from our different universes the one that suits you and access selections of works!
Or simply thanks to our filters on the catalog allowing you to refine your searches.
Our customer service is also at your service and responds within the shortest time!
For some artworks, you can negotiate the price. If the price of the work is negotiable, you have a “Make an offer” button under the “Buy this work” one.
To submit your offer, you must make a payment of the desired amount. Your offer will then be forwarded to the gallery, which reserves the right to accept or reject it. If your offer is accepted, it means that your order is confirmed by the gallery and they will prepare the artwork for shipment. If your offer is rejected, you will be refunded the total amount paid automatically. The gallery can also propose a counter-offer for the acquisition of the artwork.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us: [email protected].
Artsper delivers worldwide!
However, please note that once your order reaches its destination, it may be subject to VAT or other customs fees. These charges are beyond our control and you will be responsible for paying them (this is indicated at the ‘checkout’ first step).
Select the delivery address of your choice. Please make sure that someone is present to receive your order.
If your billing address is different to your delivery address you can specify this at the checkout.
You can return the artwork without needing to provide a reason or pay a penalty fee up to 14 days after receiving your order.
In the case that the right of withdrawal is exercised in the aforementioned time frame, the price of the artwork(s) purchased and the shipping costs will be reimbursed by us as soon as the gallery has received the artwork and notified us.
Artsper will manage the return of the work and will bear the cost of returns (which will either be paid by you and refunded by Artsper or directly paid by Artsper).
The artwork must be returned in perfect condition and in its original packaging (or equivalent).
The buyer exercises his right of withdrawal directly from MUMART, by sending an email to the address: [email protected].
If you have bought a painting, a sculpture or a work on paper, find expert advice on its conservation and how to best enhace it: