Abdelkader Benchamma
The artist
Born in 1975 in Mazamet (France), Abdelkader Benchamma lives and works in Paris and Montpellier.
A graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Montpellier and the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, his preferred medium is drawing.
Nourished by literature, philosophy and astrophysics, his drawn installations continually challenge exhibition spaces, becoming, in his words, “spaces of resonance”, conducive to the summoning of memories, both individual and collective, geological and spiritual.
His vast ephemeral frescoes are painted directly onto walls with ink, transforming architecture into an otherworld, a world of flux and mental landscapes, between the recognizable and the indiscernible, on the border between the physical and the symbolic. Reflecting on the workings of perception, his works explore our systems of knowledge, the survival of myths and beliefs, but also reminiscences, retinal or neuronal persistence, whether on museum walls or sheets of paper.
A graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Montpellier and the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, his preferred medium is drawing.
Nourished by literature, philosophy and astrophysics, his drawn installations continually challenge exhibition spaces, becoming, in his words, “spaces of resonance”, conducive to the summoning of memories, both individual and collective, geological and spiritual.
His vast ephemeral frescoes are painted directly onto walls with ink, transforming architecture into an otherworld, a world of flux and mental landscapes, between the recognizable and the indiscernible, on the border between the physical and the symbolic. Reflecting on the workings of perception, his works explore our systems of knowledge, the survival of myths and beliefs, but also reminiscences, retinal or neuronal persistence, whether on museum walls or sheets of paper.
Exhibitions
-
Cosmography
June 27 - August 1, 2024
New York -
Cosma
January 7 - March 18, 2023
Paris - Beaubourg -
Signes
September 3 - October 24, 2020
Brussels -
From the Paper to the Wall
June 6 - July 26, 2019
Brussels -
Engramme
March 16 - May 19, 2019
Paris - Beaubourg
Biography
| Birth | Born in 1975 in Mazamet, France |
|---|---|
| Residence | Lives and works in Montpellier and Paris, France |
| Education | 2003 - École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris, France 2000 - École Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Montpellier, France |
SOLO SHOWS (SELECTION)
| 2026 | TEMPLON, Paris, France |
|---|---|
| Espai d'Art Contemporani de Castelló (EACC), Castelló de la Plana, Spain | |
| 2024 | Landscape of the fall, Het Noordbrabants Museum (HNBM), ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands |
| 2023 | Solastagia: Archaeologies of Loss, The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada |
| Œuvre croisée, Librairie des Colonnes, Tangier, Marocco | |
| Géologie des déluges, Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller, France | |
| COSMA, Templon, Paris, France |
Voir plus
GROUP SHOWS (SELECTION)
| 2025 | Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|
| Apocalypse. Hier et demain, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France | |
| Lire le ciel, Mucem, Marseille, France | |
| 2024 | Au bord des mondes, Prix Marcel Duchamp, Center Pompidou, Paris, France |
| Le jour des peintres, Musée d’Orsay, Paris | |
| Les lois de l’imaginaire, curated by Laure Forlay and Sophie Sizabuire, FRAC Auvergne in collaboration with the Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie, Aurillac, France | |
| 2023 | Prendre le soleil, Hangar Y, Meudon, France |
Voir plus
COLLECTIONS (SELECTION)
| Grand Paris Express, Vitry-sur-Seine, France | |
| Musée régional d’art contemporain, Sérignan, France | |
| FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France | |
| MATHAF, Musée Arabe d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Doha, Qatar | |
| FRAC Occitanie Montpellier, Montpellier, France | |
| DRAC Centre, Orléans, France | |
| FRAC Languedoc Roussillon, Montpellier, France |
Voir plus
RESIDENCIES (SELECTION)
| 2026 | Villa Albertine, New York, USA |
|---|---|
| 2018 – 2019 | Villa Medicis, Roma, Italy |
| 2017 | Beirut Art Residency, Lebanon |
| 2016 | a.r.i.a Residency, Algiers, Algeria |
AWARDS
| 2024 | Finalist for the Marcel Duchamp prize, Paris, France |
|---|---|
| 2018 | Winner of the Occitanie-Médicis Price, France |
| 2015 | Winner of the Drawing Now Price, France Art Collector Price, France |
Press
Le Journal des Arts- March 2025
One Apocalypse trop ordonnée à la BNF
Grande Loge de France- February 2025
Apocalypse - Hier et demain
Connaissance Des Arts- February 2025
Exposition à Paris: L'Apocalypse vue par les artistes, enter catastrophe et révélation
Le monde - February 2025
La Biennale des arts islamiques de Djedda, l'autre levier du soft power saoudien
Roxana Azimi
The Art Newspaper - january, 2024
Les nommés du Prix Marcel-Duchamp dévoilés
Le Quotidien de l'Art - january, 2024
Le prix Marcel Duchamp révèle ses 4 finalistes
François Salmeron
Canvas - January, 2024
Finalists for the Marcel Duchamp Prize 2024 Announced
Beaux Arts Paris - january, 2024
Abdelkader Benchamma, finaliste pour le Prix Marcel Duchamp 2024
Les Inrockuptibles - July, 2023
Les déluges sortent du cadre
Télérama - janvier 2023
La Chronique d'Olivier Céna
The Art Newspaper - janvier 2023
La Fondation François Schneider donne carte blanche à Abdelkader Benchamma
The Art Newspaper.fr - mars 2020
Le Grand Paris Express, laboratoire pour les artistes
Anne-Lys Thomas
Daily Art News Paper.fr - décembre 2019
Pour Abdelkader Benchamma, le dessin est une fin en soi
Sébastien Planas
La Croix - octobre 2018
Une plongée cosmique dans la nuit blanche
M le Magazine du Monde - avril 2018
Exploration souterraine
Art Absolument - juillet 2011
Le dessin comme archipel
News
Abdelkader Benchamma
GROUP SHOW – LE DESSIN COLLECTIONNÉ
Drawing House, Paris
Through May 16, 2023
On the occasion of the group show Le dessin collectionné, Abdelkader Benchamma exhibits his work Engramme until May 16, 2023.
Abdelkader Benchamma
INSTALLATION – BIENNALE ARCIPELAGO MEDETERRANEO
Church of SS. Eunio e Giulano - Palermo
From October 22 to November 27, 2022
As part of the Sete-Palermo Festival, Abdelkader Benchamma’s solo exhibition Cosma will open on October 22, 2022, with the support of Palazzo Butera and the French Institute of Palermo. This exhibition curated by Federica Fruttero gathers works produced during the artistic residency of the artist in the Palazzo Butera in June 2022.
Abdelkader Benchamma
GROUP SHOW – CE QUE NOUS AVONS PERDU DANS LE FEU
Villa Arson, Nice
From February 5 to April 17, 2022
An exhibition imagined by Lola Gonzàlez at the invitation of Éric Mangion. “Winter 2020, there is the discovery of the universe of Mariana Enriquez, a slap. The title of her book haunts me “What we lost in the fire”. November 2021, I have just finished her latest novel “Our share of the night”, I am stunned and deeply touched by the power of her writing. So I borrowed her words for the title of this collective exhibition, a way for me to invite Mariana among us and a way for me to invite Mariana among us and to pay her a tribute.
Abdelkader Benchamma
RAYON FOSSILE – SOLO SHOW
Rayon Fossile
Collection Lambert, 5 Rue Violette, 84000 Avignon, France
October 29, 2021 through February 20, 2022
The Lambert Collection invites Abdelkader Benchamma to take over the entire first floor of the Hôtel de Montfaucon. Entitled ‘Rayon Fossile’, the exhibition is organized around an initiatory journey through possible worlds, past, imaginary, future, written or dreamed, assembled in a narrative that unfolds slowly in the rooms of the museum.
Abdelkader Benchamma
ECHOES – SOLO SHOW
Rupture et Associés
1 place André Malraux, Paris
From October 23 to November 27, 2021
Conceived as a total immersion in the universe of the artist, the exhibition will feature the artist’s latest works of ink on paper. The opportunity for us to admire the gesture of Abdelkader Benchamma and to unveil the mystery on his so-magnetic works.
Abdelkader Benchamma
UN AUTRE MONDE//DANS NOTRE MONDE – GROUP SHOW
Le Printemps de Septembre
25, rue d'armagnac, Toulouse
September 17 - October 17, 2021
This project, initiated at the galerie du jour agnès b. in 2016, has taken various forms, from a travelling group exhibition to a laboratory of epistemological experimentation. Through a selection of eclectic works, it highlights the precursory character of this editorial and artistic adventure as well as the ever-present relevance of its favorite themes.
Abdelkader Benchamma
Jim Dine
Jan Fabre
INAUGURATION DE LA FONDATION HELENIS GGL – GROUP SHOW
FONDATION HELENIS GGL, MONTPELLIER, FRANCE
Inauguration - November 2020
For its inauguration, the Helenis GGL Foundation in Montpellier is hosting four personalities from the contemporary art world: Abdelkader Benchamma, Jim Dine, Jan Fabre and Marlène Mocquet. Each of the four artists will present an artwork for the event – which will open the season in what aims to become one of the city’s major cultural centres.
Abdelkader Benchamma
UN AUTRE MONDE///DANS NOTRE MONDE – GROUP SHOW
From September 19, 2020 to March 14, 2021
FRAC Grand Large — Hauts-de-France, 503 Avenue des Bancs de Flandres, 59140 Dunkerque
Abdelkader Benchamma takes part in the exhibition « UN AUTRE MONDE/// DANS NOTRE MONDE » held at the FRAC Nord-pas de Calais.The exhibition proposes to discover the fantastic realism, a major movement of the counterculture of the 1960s, through the works of contemporary artists who question the dominant knowledge and hybridize scientific and esoteric knowledge. Extravagant, hermetic, sensual, the works summon the survival of traditional, mythical or magical cultures. They invite to probe the altered states of consciousness, the limits of our sensory perceptions, the hidden codes of nature and the undecipherable laws that govern the cosmos.
