Featured Artist Chabane Djouder

Artist Chabane Djouder shares a compelling portfolio of figurative paintings imbued with spiritual energy. Visit his website to see more of his work.

 

 

I consider painting a source of knowledge. It is a journey that allows us to know ourselves and what’s around us.

 

 

Our interior self is deep in the same way that the universe is vast, where the inside and outside of everything is moving and vibrating. Any external vibration has an influence on the interior. All the vibrations around us have an influence on us and everything is connected to each other through our feelings. When we turn these movements and vibrations into words, tones and forms, it is like all the universe knowing itself by itself.

 

 

My painting is a mix between abstract and figurative. It’s a representation of the energy, or the spirit, that moves around us every day, unseen to the naked eye.

 

 

I am an observer of movements and energy waves that are inside and outside of our bodies and minds. Because of this, I connect with the people I paint through their tacit communication, emotional and spiritual energies and body language. All this, combined with waves, shapes, sounds and natural energies contribute to the colorful blends and textures found in my paintings.

 

 

I currently live in Philadelphia and am inspired by the beauty and the dynamism of the city. Before that, I studied at School of Fine Arts for six years in North Africa. My research subject was to translate traditional songs into painting. Traditional songs are what the farmers of North Africa sing when they stay in villages or go to work on the farms. They are the songs repeated by women at weddings or when they are at work weaving carpets.

 

 

These songs, full of emotion and spirituality, move me from the inside and inspire me to create. They start with a soft hymn followed by a long musical dialogue, the rhythm coming and going. As the rhythm accelerates, the movement increases, and the trance begins. That’s when my creative soul is stirred.

 

 

With my hands following the rhythm of the music, I paint until I feel the painting becoming a part of me, filling me with strength and love. I get lost in the canvas. I give to her, I teach her, I guide her and she gives all of this back to me. Meanwhile, my mind and imagination are opened—other worlds and the meaning of life fuel my mind—my pictorial world becomes a reality.

 

 

This helps me see the world with an artistic eye, subjectively and with emotion. Seeing beyond reality is composed of molecular tissue full of energy and vibrations. I express these movements in my paintings with a lot of inspired touches that move throughout the space from one form to another. Some of these abstract forms become definitive. Sometimes they shift from tangible imagery to abstract or from abstract to realism.

 

 

I currently live in Philadelphia and am inspired by the beauty and the dynamism of the city. My work captures its street scenes, buildings, weather and people with color, light and texture.

 

 

I’ve been doing a lot of traveling for my art sense. I did many shows and taught art in different places. My art is a dream and my dream is art accompanied by this child who is trying to understand the reality we are facing every day.

 

Artist Chabane Djouder invites you to follow him on Instagram and Facebook.

 

Want to stay current on cutting edge business articles from Artsy Shark, plus artist features, and an invitation to the next Call for Artists? Click below to sign up for our twice-monthly email. You’ll get all this plus opportunities and special offers that you can’t get anywhere else!