Every death comes too soon, but the news of Mohamed Melehi's passing away feels especially painful. The 84-year-old Moroccan artist was in the midst of enjoying a spate of opportunities and attention that had resulted in new paintings. A solo exhibition of his bright, graphic paintings opened last year at the Mosaic Rooms in London then travelled to the Museum of Contemporary African Art Al Maaden in Marrakech and is currently on show at Concrete in Alserkal Avenue. He was taken on by the Dubai gallery Lawrie Shabibi, who brought his work to their presentation at Cromwell Place in London earlier this month. A show about the Casablanca Group, which he was part of, was co-organised by the Sharjah Art Foundation and the kW Institute for Contemporary Art earlier this year.
His bright, signature waves were back across the canvasses, in overlapping, undulating stripes of colour that spoke of the joy of sun and sea and a thrilling to colour and design. Like so many in 2020, Melehi fell ill with coronavirus. He was admitted to a hospital in Paris and did not recover.
Melehi was born in Asilah, a small coastal town near Tangier in Morocco. He studied via scholarships at a number of institutions: first at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Tétouan, in northern Morocco, and then at fine arts academies in Seville, Madrid, Rome, and Paris. In 1962, he was invited to teach at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The cold Midwestern city must not have been for him; he transplanted quickly to New York after scooping a scholarship to Columbia University, where he stayed for two years. The city was immensely influential on his work. Paintings from that time memorialise New York’s music and artistic scene, but at the same time accounts state that Melehi also remained convinced of the exceptionality of Morocco. The country was on the verge of remaking itself and, Melehi felt, had an opportunity to follow a non-European model.
A Casablanca full of energy
When he returned from his studies, according to the Cold War terms of the Rockefeller Foundation scholarship, he found a Casablanca full of energy. Politically, the city oscillated between a feeling of the freedom of a newly independent country – having left the French in 1956 – and the unpopularity of King Hassan II. A spirit of political engagement, cultural nationalism, and excitement prevailed.
In his own work, Melehi married the hard-edged geometric painting of New York with traditional Amazigh motifs. His signature waves, in a variety of colours, were also deeply spiritual in nature.
A school of fashion designers emerged, updating tribal designs in new fabrics, tweaking traditionally male designs to allow women to wear them, and helping to establish the kaftan as an international trend in the decades to come. Fareed Belkahia, at the head of the Casablanca School of Fine Arts, moved the French-established institution away from easel painting and towards techniques and styles drawn from vernacular visual culture. Melehi joined the faculty as professor from 1964 to 1969, and he, Belkahia and Mohamed Chabaa became known as the Casablanca Group. Inspired by the Bauhaus in Germany, the three pushed forward interdisciplinary ideas of pedagogy and creation, integrating painting, craft, architecture and design.
In his own work, Melehi married the hard-edged geometric painting of New York with traditional Amazigh motifs. His signature waves, in a variety of colours, were also deeply spiritual in nature. They reflected his interest in the four elements of earth, water, air and fire, as well as the movement of the beaches in Morocco, the undulation of Arabic calligraphy, and offered in their repetition, as Holiday Powers writes in the Mathaf Encyclopedia entry on his work, a route towards transcendental meditation and prayer.
Famously, the Casablanca Group brought art out of the studio and gallery and on to the street. In 1969, snubbing an art salon elsewhere in the city, the group assembled an exhibition in Marrakech's Jemaa el-Fna Square, hanging their paintings outside for a week so they could be seen directly and easily by the public. Melehi's democratic beliefs extended even to his choice of materials: in the 1960s he swapped the painterly acrylic for cellulose car paint. And he pursued graphic design and publishing as means to reach new and wider audiences. He created the first, iconic cover of a sun for Souffles, the radical journal that ran from 1966–72, amid the heights of radical solidarity movements, and in the mid-70s he directed the journal Intégral. His publishing imprint, Shoof, created commercial graphic design work and art books throughout the 1970s.
He also contributed to the art infrastructure in Morocco. In the late 1970s he and the politician Mohamed Benaissa, who was also born in Asilah, established the Al Mouhit Cultural Association and the Asilah Moussem Festival of the Arts, in the pair’s home town, known for its murals and youth engagement. (The festival is still running.) In the 1980s and 90s, he was the director of arts for the Ministry of Culture and later a cultural consultant to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
His recent success returned international focus to his artwork. The paintings he newly created retain the verve and energy of his early work, reflect the joy that the addition of colour to the world can produce: a message of optimism that is the legacy of the extraordinary artist’s career.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Fixtures and results:
Wed, Aug 29:
- Malaysia bt Hong Kong by 3 wickets
- Oman bt Nepal by 7 wickets
- UAE bt Singapore by 215 runs
Thu, Aug 30: UAE v Nepal; Hong Kong v Singapore; Malaysia v Oman
Sat, Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong; Oman v Singapore; Malaysia v Nepal
Sun, Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman; Malaysia v UAE; Nepal v Singapore
Tue, Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore; UAE v Oman; Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu, Sep 6: Final
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
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Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Scotland v Ireland:
Scotland (15-1): Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Huw Jones, Sam Johnson, Sean Maitland; Finn Russell, Greig Laidlaw (capt); Josh Strauss, James Ritchie, Ryan Wilson; Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist; Simon Berghan, Stuart McInally, Allan Dell
Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, D'arcy Rae, Ben Toolis, Rob Harley, Ali Price, Pete Horne, Blair Kinghorn
Coach: Gregor Townsend (SCO)
Ireland (15-1): Rob Kearney; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack Conan, Sean O'Brien, Peter O'Mahony; James Ryan, Quinn Roux; Tadhg Furlong, Rory Best (capt), Cian Healy
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Ultan Dillane, Josh van der Flier, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour
Coach: Joe Schmidt (NZL)
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Have you been targeted?
Tuan Phan of SimplyFI.org lists five signs you have been mis-sold to:
1. Your pension fund has been placed inside an offshore insurance wrapper with a hefty upfront commission.
2. The money has been transferred into a structured note. These products have high upfront, recurring commission and should never be in a pension account.
3. You have also been sold investment funds with an upfront initial charge of around 5 per cent. ETFs, for example, have no upfront charges.
4. The adviser charges a 1 per cent charge for managing your assets. They are being paid for doing nothing. They have already claimed massive amounts in hidden upfront commission.
5. Total annual management cost for your pension account is 2 per cent or more, including platform, underlying fund and advice charges.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
THE SPECS
2020 Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE
Engine: 1.8 litre combined with 16-volt electric motors
Transmission: Automatic with manual shifting mode
Power: 121hp
Torque: 142Nm
Price: Dh95,900
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Name: Colm McLoughlin
Country: Galway, Ireland
Job: Executive vice chairman and chief executive of Dubai Duty Free
Favourite golf course: Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club
Favourite part of Dubai: Palm Jumeirah
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 3 (Kroos 4', Ramos 30', Marcelo 37')
Eibar 1 (Bigas 60')
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
ARM%20IPO%20DETAILS
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