The Spirit of the Studio

16 artists trained at the Beaux-Arts de Paris under Djamel Tatah

Echoing MO.CO.’s exhibition devoted to the history of the École Supérieure des Beaux- Arts de Montpellier (MO.CO. Esba), MO.CO. Panacée will present a study of a "textbook example": Djamel Tatah’s studio at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, the School of Fine Arts. Over the course of his 15-year tenure as a professor at the School, Djamel Tatah trained a generation of artists whose diverse practices, singular trajectories and quick emergence on the international scene are of particular interest.

Unlike most regional art schools, Montpellier included, the Beaux- Arts de Paris relies on a "studio" system. Each studio is run autonomously by a recognised French or foreign artist. This system, which was inherited from the 19th century, has since thoroughly evolved: it no longer involves the reproduction of a certain style, but instead encourages finding one’s own voice through a daily dialogue with an influential figure. This type of mentorship encourages autonomy and favours the emergence of a singular language, all the while making each student a part of a community of peers.

Painter Djamel Tatah, who taught in Paris from 2008 to 2023 and now lives in Montpellier, has mentored a large number of students. Fifteen or so of these stand out through the potency of their work and successful careers: Kenia Almaraz Murillo, Raphaëlle Benzimra, Djabril Boukhenaïssi, Tristan Chevillard, Fabien Conti, Mathilde Denize, Léo Dorfner, Clémence Gbonon, Bilal Hamdad, Nina Jayasuriya, Dora Jeridi, David Mbuyi, Zélie Nguyen, Pierre Pauze, Blaise Schwartz, and Rayan Yasmineh.

Djamel Tatah believes in a method of teaching based on notions of transmission and self-education, the concept of which may seem at first glance contradictory. What, indeed, is there to pass on if not knowledge? Teaching through trust, rather than reproduction, opens up a space for freedom in which each student can put forward their own subjectivity and invent their own forms.

The exhibition at MO.CO. Panacée will feature over 120 works created recently or for the occasion. Through their use of painting, which ranges from figuration to abstraction, but also drawing, sculpture, weaving or installation, the artists unlock inner worlds, whether real or fictional, at the intersection of the present and collective imagination. Their representations, which show great formal diversity, take inspiration both from the old masters and from vernacular practices, Persian miniatures, diasporic heritages, contemporary music, and pop and post-Internet culture. Often playing on the idea of the fragment, they explore interstices, margins and the possibilities that these offer.

Curator : Numa Hambursin, Chief Executive Officer of MO.CO.
Exhibition coordinator : Rahmouna Boutayeb, curator, and Alexis Loisel-Montambaux, exhibition assistant.

With Kenia Almaraz Murillo, Raphaëlle Benzimra, Djabril Boukhenaïssi, Tristan Chevillard, Fabien Conti, Mathilde Denize, Léo Dorfner, Clémence Gbonon, Bilal Hamdad, Nina Jayasuriya, Dora Jeridi, David Mbuyi, Zélie Nguyen, Pierre Pauze, Blaise Schwartz, Rayan Yasmineh.

Catalogue

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue published for the occasion with graphic design by Clément Wibaut, which will feature previously unpublished text by Guitemie Maldonado and François-René Martin, teachers and art historians, precious collaborators in Djamel Tatah's studio at the Beaux-Arts de Paris. as well as a conversation between Djamel Tatah and Numa Hambursin and contributions from the 16 artists featured in the exhibition.