Alëxone Dizac’s Banana Spleen, an impressive solo show at David Bloch Gallery in Marrakech recently opened, turning the gallery space into a small section of his surrealist universe. With a strong base in graffiti, the French artist is further exploring the possibilities of his imagery and style by presenting works on fabrics, papers, and even traditional Moroccan handicrafts.
The imagery used in his work include numerous layers of strange and familiar characters and animals that Alexone has been painting for years. Working with bright colors, being pretty lose on outlines vs. fill-ins, often using simple geometric patterns and transparency, his art is a visual maze of images.
Both dark and colored, violent and childish, his hyper dynamic works have numerous dimensions and ways of seeing them. This effect becomes obvious on his larger works, like the ones he created for the Banana Spleen show. Combining the texture and patterns of the fabrics he is painting on, together with his explosive visual language, resulted in some of the richest and strongest works seen from the artist. This multi-dimensional feel of Alëxone’s paintings is highlighted with use of different mediums, from spray paint, acrylic, crayons, pens, to self-adhesives. The centerpiece of the gallery installation is a sculptural piece painted on a traditional Moroccan hand carved lamp, forming one of his most recognizable characters. Banana Spleen opened on 31st October and will be on view until 22nd of November.
