Hocine Ziani

Hocine Ziani (; born 3 May 1953) is an Algerian painter and artist in plastic arts.

Early years Ziani was born on 3 May 1953 in Sidi Daoud to a Kabyle family living in the countryside of lower Kabylia near Zawiyet Sidi Amar Cherif and not far from the course of Oued Sebaou in the current Boumerdès Province. He then spent his childhood in cultural isolation in the first years which coincided with the start of the Algerian revolution.

In 1964, two years after the independence of his country, he enrolled in the primary school of Sidi Daoud at the age of 11 and devoted himself to drawing and art as a self-taught. He joined his internship studies in an accounting college in the nearby town of Bordj Menaïel in 1969, then moved to Algiers in 1973 to continue his studies and obtain an accountant position in a national company.

From November 1974 to February 1977, he performed his military service in the Algerian desert within the Algerian Army, and on this occasion, he discovered the Sahara, in particular the Hoggar and the culture of the Tuaregs. As soon as he returned to civilian life, where he found his professional activity in accounting in 1978 he dropped the profession for art.

In 1983, the Algerian government, under the chairmanship of Chadli Bendjedid, called on all national visual artists to found a museum dedicated to the history of the country. Ziani then contributed to this project through his works which are generally large format, and which will later enrich the collections of government or presidential institutions.

After a decade of production drawn from the historical theme, Ziani gradually turned away from specialization became interested in the theme of natural spaces, people and fantasies. He then favors free spaces treated in the blur, to give depth to his compositions, and this unlike historical canvases which are very crowded.

The themes of Ziani's paintings started to diversify, and in the spring of 1989, his wish to experiment with other techniques led him to learn lithography when he discovered an old press in one of the workshops of Villa Abd-el-Tif. With the help of his colleague Rachid Djemaï, he put the lithographic machine back into working order, andwith his friend Salah Hioun, painter and engraver, made his first printing tests.

Abroad In 1992, he left for Paris when Islamist terrorism in Algeria set the country ablaze, where he met the art dealer Daniel Lasnon, running an art gallery. They started collaborating and in 1933 Lasnon organized for Ziani individual and collective exhibitions in Paris, Brussels and in several large cities of France. After his first Parisian exhibition in 1993, Ziani left Algiers and settled in Paris,

In 1997, Ziani joined the Opera Gallery run by businessman and art dealer Gilles Dyan, who presented his works internationally. In this time he won several artistic prizes, including the Prix de l'Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

In 2003, he started collaboration with art dealer Victor Perahia who offered him the services of his gallery permanently exhibiting works by Salvador Dalí, Arman, Georges Braque, Louis Toffoli, Claude Weisbuch and others.

In 2010, Ziani along with Layachi Hamidouche, Tahar Ouamane, Rachid Djemaï and Noureddine Zekara represented Algeria at the international painting exhibition organized in South Africa by FIFA. He was responsible for training the group of five artists representing his native country.

In March and April 2013, the city of Chaumont organized a retrospective of his painting of various genres and subjects including the history of Algeria, Venice, still lifes and portraits or horses.

The city of Luxeuil-les-Bains asked Ziani in 2018 for his orientalist works, of which ten of his paintings joined those of Paul Élie Dubois at the Tour des Échevins museum to constitute an exhibition entitled ”Orientalism, crossed views between Paul-Elie Dubois and Hocine Ziani” that lasted from April till October 2019.

Works

Ziani produced paintings in which he used a rich plastic vocabulary, where realism, hyperrealism, impressionism and semi-abstraction interact. Through a game of contrast between foreground and background, it's the burst of light that particularly characterizes his works.

In his works, he explores all the games of shadows and reflections, of contrasts and gradients. As a figurative painter, he creates paintings from the real world while drawing his artistic effects from the resources of the imagination.

Many of his works belong to collections of governmental and presidential institutions in Algeria, France, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, the royal family of Saudi Arabia, and are also present in private collections throughout the world.

Several of his painted works have been the subject of official acquisitions by several institutions, such as The National Museum of Fine Arts of Algiers, The Central Army Museum, Algiers, The Ministry of Culture, Algiers, The People's National Assembly, Algiers, The Artéum Contemporary Art Museum, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge (Aix-en-Provence), The City Museum of Schwarzach, Germany.

Main exhibitions Several galleries and exhibitions presented Ziani's works: Algiers: Galerie El-Mougar, 1st individual exhibition, 1979 Algiers: Galerie El-Mougar, Groupe35, 1981 Titograd: traveling exhibition Groupe35, 1983 Sofia: Groupe35 exhibition, 1983 Algiers: Palace of Culture, Bourdine group, Djemai, Kerbouche and Ziani, 1990 Paris: Galerie de la Place, 1993, 1996, 2005 Paris: Opera Gallery, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2008 Paris: Galerie Art-Cadre, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Singapore: Opera Gallery, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 Paris: Salon des Artistes Français, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 New York: Opera Gallery, 2000, 2001 Brussels: Brussels Stars Art Gallery, 1994 Nîmes: South Gallery, 1995 Luxembourg: Galerie Becker, 1998 Saint-Dié: The European Biennial of the Thirty, 1998 Heusden: Oocker Gallery, 2002 Strasbourg: Galerie Froessel, 1993, 1995 Aix-en-Provence: Arteum Museum, 2001 Sharjah: Art Museum, 2005 Roanne: Museum of Fine Arts, 2006 Lyon: Art-Club gallery, ex-galerie de la Place, 2007 Dubai: Opera Gallery, 2008, 2010 Thonon-les-Bains: Franco-Swiss meeting, guest of honor, 2008 Abu Dhabi: Authority for Culture and Heritage, 2009 Brandérion Cap'Orient: The Great Figuratives in Brittany, 2009 Zillisheim: Salon International, guest of honor, 2009 Johannesburg: representation of Algeria at the international exhibition of countries qualified for the FIFA World Cup - FIFA, 2010 Endingen: Internationale Kunstmesse, guest of honor, 2010 Paris: 13th Salon des Peintres du Marais, guest of honor, 2011 Kaysersberg: Atmosphere of Venice, thematic exhibition, 2012 Strasbourg: St-Art, one-man-show, Art-Cadre Gallery, 2012 Chaumont: at the Chapelle des Jésuites, retrospective organized by the city of Chaumont, 2013 Strasbourg: Orient and Venice, Galerie de l'Agora, Council of Europe, 2013 Paris: Ad Vitam Aeternam, group exhibition (Brayer, Buffet, Dali, Laporte, Tobiasse, Toffoli, Weisbuch, Ziani), Pérahia gallery, 2014 Rosheim, France: solo exhibition "Praise of Wisdom", 2015 Schwarzach, Germany: at the Church of St. Peter and Paul, solo exhibition "The spirit of wine", 2017 Luxeuil-les-Bains, Art dans la Rue fair, guest of honor, 2017 Vittel: Vittel international painting and sculpture exhibition, guest of honor, 2018 Nogent: Salon Epon'Arts, guest of honor, 2019 Duttlenheim: Art67, 5th biennial, edition sponsored by Ziani, 2019 Luxeuil-les-Bains: Exhibition at the Musée de la Tour des Echevins, "Orientalism, crossed views between Paul-Elie Dubois and Hocine Ziani", 2019

Awards Diploma of Honor, awarded by Algerian President Chadli Bendjedid, Algiers, 1987. Charles Ernest Beulé Prize from the Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1997. Several times medalist at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français, Paris, 1997–1999. Gold medal, Salon International, Vittel, 1998. First Grand Prix, Salon des Seigneurs de l'Art, Arles, 1998. First Grand Prix, Grand Gala National, Nantes, 1999. First Grand Prix, gold medal, Salon International, La Grande-Motte, 2000. Prize awarded by the Arts-Sciences-Lettres Academic Society, Paris. Medal of the City of Paris, 2019.