Yassine “YAZE” Mekhnache

Born in 1979 in Lyon. Lives and works in Paris.

If I had to evoke YAZE work in only one word, I would, abruptly, use ‘Tear ‘. I am not sure it is the most appropriate to give an account of an already impressive and growing work. But this is what comes immediately to my mind, in front of these huge portraits, all together laid out and destroyed, built and struck out, subjacent and enriched with scars, but always present, obsessive, in their original vigor. They have double appearance, as if their sense could only be expressed by adding two contradictory and at the time complementary elements. Two elements: a drawing (a plan), and an existence. Lightning of the blood-like red, fire glares of the orange, earthly evidence of the ochre, pearly whites that come to superimpose on the precise black lines. Sometimes the writings, in their magic, add up a discrete and appropriate note. Mysterious too.

One can feel in this torrent of creation a violence that was previously expurgated by the artist on the fronts, vertical and free spaces of the cities, on the leprous parking and blackened station walls. Graffiti, tags, have been Yassine ‘YAZE’ Mekhnache first writing exercises. As for Jean-Michel Basquiat when he started in Soho streets the cruel and bewitching Samo saga, before Andy Warhol gave him the taste for cloth painting. In certain ways, while reading his impressive paintings, I place YAZE in what is for me the family of immense artists like CY Twombly -where what is unspoken, suggested, creates poetry, Georg Baselitz -whose power knocks down all norms, Yan Pei-Ming -who translates the savagery of the World… there could be worse company.

YAZE has sublimated his rough learning of street art. He masters his pulsions by canalizing them on the huge white pages of his frames. But art is born out of constraint, ensured André Gide. And in his self-imposed constraints, YAZE thrills his own personal fury. This is what matters to us. What does it unveil? What does it hide? What does it tell us? About him, about the world we are living in? The painter does not need words to convince us of his passion for the world. To suggest what he feels, what he suffers, what he loves. At 26, through his painting, his defensive weapon and his language, YAZE imposes his truth upon us. It is truly moving.

“A text by art critic Jacques Bouzerand, 2006”

EXHIBITIONS

2011- March 16 – 7 may: “LYFE”, Galerie Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris / Solo show

2010- September / October: “ANIMAL DREAM”, Marrakech, Morocco / Residence and collective exhibition

2010- June / July: “C1TY”, 18Gallery – Universal exhibition, Shanghai / Residence and collective exhibition

2010- June / July: Galerie OPEN Alexandra Rockelmann, Berlin / Solo show

2010- June: “THE END”, Paris / Collective exhibition

2010- May: “CHROME DIARIES”, Brian OENO Lucas curated by Yaze, Paris

2010- February: Algerian Cultural Center, Paris / Solo show

2009- December: “THE SHOW”, Galerie Joseph, Paris / Collective exhibition coordinated by Yaze

2009- “PANIC IN SHAI WAN”, The Embassy, Hong Kong / Exhibition with Lyes “L1ES” Sidhoum

2009- Villa Abdelatif, Alger.

2009- “Piece Of Me”, Galerie LJ, Paris / Solo show

2009- Art Paris, Paris, with Louise Alexander Gallery.

2008- December: “Lay down the reality”, Galerie Moretti & Moretti, Paris / Collective exhibition curated by YAZE

2008- PREVIEW Berlin with Galerie L.J. Beaubourg

2008- “In Motion”, Louise Alexander Gallery, Porto Cervo / Solo show

2008- Shang’art, Shanghai with Louise Alexander Gallery

2008- “Wake Up in a Golden Dream” – Centre d’art contemporain des Vosges, Epinal / Solo show

2008- “Sponge Up”, Galerie L.J. Beaubourg, Paris / Solo show

2007- “Une Estivale 2007″, Galerie L.J. Beaubourg, Paris / Collective exhibition

2007- “2 Jours de Nuit”, Place Saint-Sulpice, Paris / Collective exhibition curated by Leila Voight

2007- “Yaze”, Galerie Regard Sud, Lyon / Solo show

2007- Drawings Exhibition, Galerie du Jour Agnès b, Paris / Collective exhibition

2006- “Processus”, Galerie Moretti, Paris / Solo show

2006- “Soie”, Contemporary Art Center Le Rectangle, Lyon / Collective exhibition

2006- “2 Jours de Nuit”, Place Saint-Sulpice, Paris / Collective exhibition curated by Leila Voight

2006- “Biennale des Lions 2006 France/Italy” – Lyon et Torino

2006- Exposition collective itinérante. Création d’une sculpture de lion en résine en taille réelle.

2006- “Yaze et Jean Faucheur”, Galerie Enora, Paris / Collaborative exhibition

2006- “The Content of My Head is Visible”, Espace Beaurepaire, Paris / Collective exhibition

2006- “Autocritique”, Galerie Chappe, Paris / Solo show

2005- “Fight Art”, Biennial of Contemporary Art, Lyon / Performance

2005- “YAZE”, Galerie T Limited, Bruxelles / Solo show

2004- “Sapins de Noël des Créateurs”, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris / Collective exhibition

2004- “Yaze”, Hilton Hotel, Lyon / Solo show.

2004- “Red Art Campari”, Toast Gallery, Paris / Collective exhibition & video-painting.

2002- “Yaze”, Centre d’art contemporain, Pérouges / Solo show

2002- “Yaze”, Espace d’Art Boris Vian, Saint-Etienne

2001- “Yaze”, Maison des Arts Plastiques Rhône-Alpes (MAPRA), Lyon / Collective exhibition

1997- “L’art sur la place”, Place Bellecour, Lyon

PRIZES, RESIDENCES AND COLLECTIONS

2010: “AL MAQAM”, Morocco. One month residence.

2009: Villa Abdelatif, Alger. Two months residence and exhibition.

Purchase of a triptych and an installation by The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Alger (Algeria).

2006-2010 : Collection Agnès b, Marianne Orlowsky, Jérémy Rocher, etc.

2002-2005: Residence at Centre d’Art Contemporain of Lacoux, France. Art therapy workshops.

2001: Residence at Fort du Bruissin, Cité des artistes.

Attribution by the City of Lyon of a studio for 4 years.

2000: UNESCO. Special Prize of the Jury of the International Meeting Paris/Berlin, for a video.

MONOGRAPHS

- Folioscope Street, éd. Du Passage d’Encre, 2006, text from Rachid Djaidani.

- Folioscope Workshop, éd. Du Passage d’Encre, 2006, text from Rachid Djaidani.

ARTICLES

- L’Officiel Hommes. « ANIMAL DREAM », Eve therond, septembre-octobre-novembre 2010

- La Gazette de l’Hôtel de Drouot, « Yassine Mekhnache », L. Harambourg, 25 January 2008

- Beaux Arts Magazine, « Yaze absorbe la peinture », A. Blanckaert, January 2008

- Whitewall, « Darling artist: Yaze », J. Kraft, Winter 2007

- Libération, « Parution groupée des deux premiers folioscopes réalisés par les portraitistes Wilee et Yaze. Le flipbook, un bon coup de pouce à l’animation », S. Binet, 19 May 2006

- Byzance, « Dans le sérail / Collection particulière de Marianne Orlowsky », April-May 2006

- Elle, « L’art monte à Montmartre », S. Delos, 27 March 2006

- DS, « Fondus d’art urbain; Street et Workshop, par Yaze et Wilee », February 2006

- Innercity, « Yaze: Folioscopes Street & Workshop », January-February 2006

- WAD, « Street et Workshop », Zab, Winter 2005-2006