This Long Journey into Your Gaze - Rachid Koraïchi, Casa Árabe

This book collects the works presented by the artist Rachid Koraïchi in This Long Journey to your Gaze, an exhibition organized by Casa Árabe in both its headquarters of Madrid and Cordoba between March and July 2019. These are works produced entirely at Factum Arte in Madrid and in Barcelona’s workshops of ceramics, two cities in which the artist has worked intensely in recent years. The resulting sculptures, ceramics and installations are a testimony of the fascinating universe of signs and graphisms that characterizes Koraïchi’s work and for which he has gained international recognition.

Rachid Koraïchi was born in Ain Beïda, Algeria in 1947 and grew up during the French colonial period, which ended with the War of Independence in 1962. He studied at the National School of Fine Arts in Algiers in 1970 and later, after reaching Paris, at the National School of Decorative Arts and the National School of Fine Arts there. He also graduated from the Institute of Urbanism in Paris.

The Arabic semiotics and graphic gestures in his work evoke figurative imagery and messages intended for a universal audience. His ideas take shape in a wide variety of media, including ceramics, textiles, steel sculptures, bronze pieces, alabaster sculptures, and so forth. He has also authored many books in a fluid dialogue with writers and poets from different eras, such as Mahmoud Darwish, Khalil Gibran, René Char, Michel Butor and Sylvie Germain.

Koraïchi collaborates with artists and craftsmen from all over the world with extensive experience using traditional and contemporary techniques to create works and installations which promote dialogue amongst both local and global communities. The artist has often set up studios in different countries. His works can be found in many museum collections and at foundations around the world.