DRISS OUADAHI xxxxx biography press
 
In his first solo New York exhibition, Algerian Driss
Ouadahi paints lush, gridded abstractions that refer-
ence architecture found on the outskirts of urban
Europe. Cities like Paris and Berlin built huge high-rise
housing developments on their peripheries to accom-
modate growing immigrant populations. Without
revealing the inhabitants, the paintings nonetheless
bring to mind the politics of class, religion and ethnicity
embodied within these structures.

Drawing upon a lifelong interest in architecture,
Ouadahi creates a hybrid language of structural design
and abstract painting that infuses rich color and light
into the rigid form of monotonous buildings. Broad,
multi-colored brushstrokes define volume and depth in
the paintings’ repetitive geometry. The lushness of
paint creates a seductive but impenetrable surface,
leaving us wondering about the life behind the walls.

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Building Shell I, 2006
 
Abyss, 2006
 
To The Sky, 2006
 
Eck, 2006