Imposing restrictions and constraints upon his working processes, Abdelkader Benchamma creates delicately executed drawings of states of matter, events and explosions animated by a wide range of dynamics: The physical properties of forms succumb to processes of materialisation, or adversely dematerialisation, and alternatebetween sculptural and liquid states, between figurative and abstract matter. Submitting varying elements to tensions, levitations, contrary movements and mute dialogues about space and time, Benchamma translates into his work the obscure harmony born from the chaotic environment that envelops us.
The strong influences of theories of astrophysics and cosmology, as well as existentialist theatre and literary investigations, emerge lucidly in Benchamma's art. Along with the concepts and theories, aspects of the visual expressions of these ideas filter into his drawing processes – his technique is a fusion of graphic techniques from printing, engraving, landscape and scientific drawing. The purity and intensity of the lines in his scenes express powerful and ambiguous atmospheres, provoking the questioning of a stable reality: Benchamma notes that 'the more the line is precise, the more the nature of the mass remains elusive'.
Benchamma explores natural and primordial forms of matter, with an unflagging fascination for the forms of monoliths and heaps. In his 'Sculpture' drawings, the monolithic forms and piles develop organically on the page, proliferating from their starting points into ambiguous masses: A pile is a relief from other subject matter to Benchamma in that it containspotential but no defined outcome beyond itself. Suggestions of organic and mineral forms emerge in the fluid patterns, recalling the strength of mountain landscapes or planes of greenery, though nothing is explicit in this scenarios, and the implications are often conflicting. For a series of 'Sculpture' drawings, Benchamma restricted himself to using only black marker pens. The drawings, coloured in varying shades of black, reveal questions of reality and illusion. Purples, mauves, blues and greys emerge in a muted black rainbow, and the idea of a true black becomes indeterminate and abstruse.
While Benchamma's central focus is drawing, he develops ideas into sculpture, furthering his conceptual questioning of reality. In 'Sculpture, More or Less', a wooden parquet floor breaks with all the material properties of a sheet of glass, shattering in a way that the viewer only notices when standing up close to the work. The technical behaviour of the natural materials, wood and glass, are manipulated and decontexualised to create a surreal and spectacular illusion.
Abdelkader Benchamma, born in France in 1975 to Algerian parents, lives and works in Montpellier. In the coming months, Benchamma, alongside a solo show at Gallery IVDE, Dubai, will exhibit in Art Brussels and Art Dubai. In 2011, his monograph 'Dark matter' was published by the Galerie du Jour, Paris, in conjunction with his solo exhibition there. In the same year, Benchamma participated in the 'Future of a Promise' exhibition at the Venice Biennale, and was commissioned for the 'Told Untold Retold' exhibition at the Mathaf Museum, Doha, Qatar. He has had solo exhibitions across Europe as well as in Asia, and has works in public collections, namely the FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, the Musee de Beaux Arts-Orleans and Artotheque de Pessac in France.
