Rafik El Kamel

Critical text

Rafik El Kamel (Tunis, 1944 – 2021) is a major figure of the arts in Tunisia. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Tunis from 1962 to 1967, and from 1968 to 1969 at the Cité des Arts in Paris, at the School of Decorative Arts under the direction of Despierre. After graduating in 1970, he replaced his teacher during the latter’s two-year absence. He then left Paris in 1971. In the 1980s he was appointed professor at the School of Fine Arts in Tunis. He participated in the group exhibition Irtissem, held in Tunis from 1974 to 1981, and the Biennale of Young Artists in 1977 in Paris. In 1984, he won the 1st prize of the city of Tunis and the 1st prize of the annual exhibition of contemporary art in Tunis. In many of his paintings, Rafik El Kamel combines motifs of abstraction with those of figuration. He strives towards the dissolution of forms. He paints with acrylic on canvas and his compositions appear as abstract collages, as if he first created a collage and then reproduced it as a painting. His assemblages have an elegant style and nuanced colouring, and often include numbers, arrows and crossed-out comments. He often uses the title Transfiguration, indicating his intention to systematically dissolve forms. He focuses on surfaces and lines of colour and their contrasts of tone, shape and texture. In the 1980s – 1990s he also returned to figurative painting, choosing genre scenes and the human body as his subject matter.

Text by Mouna Mekouar