Mohammed Mrabet

M-P

16 Dec

Mohammed Mrabet was born in 1936 in Tangier, Morocco. He was enrolled in Koranic school, but didn’t last and instead worked as a caddy at the Royal Tangier Golf Club from 1946. He then made his living as a fisherman from 1950, worked in European bars and households from 1956 and as a boxer travelled through Spain and Mallorca. Out of curiosity and looking for big money, Mrabet travelled to the USA for the first time in 1960 and two more journeys followed, but the country did not impress him that much.

During his childhood Mrabet listened to traditional storytellers in Tangier’s cafes and later on he would invent his own stories that Paul Bowles taped and transcribed. He has written around 20 books that have been translated into around 25 different languages. Although known primarily as a Moroccan storyteller, Mrabet began making ink drawings in 1958, and later paintings, partly inspired by Ahmed Yacoubi. Mrabet’s intricate felt tip and ink drawings and paintings spring from the depths of his rich imagination. His artwork is his own: very loud and intricate. Mrabet is increasingly being recognised as an important member of a small group of Moroccan Master Painters who emerged in the immediate post Colonial period and his works have become highly sought after, mostly by European collectors. He continues to paint to this day, with his work being featured in exhibitions in Morocco, Europe and the United States.

William Burroughs said, “The art of Mohammed Mrabet cannot be called primitive, for the draftsmanship is quite sophisticated. On one hand, the paintings derive from the classical Arab tradition, as expressed in mosaics; there is also some resemblance to the spirit-pictures drawn by Eskimo shamans. But beyond these influences, there is a fresh and original style which is uniquely Mrabet’s own.”