Footnotes

Rachid Koraïchi is an Algerian artist whose work deals with the intersections of religion, culture, and history. Sufism is largely infused into his pieces that evoke themes of transcendence, spirituality and the connection to oneself and the divine. His work grapples with the multitude of ways that we connect ourselves with God and higher realms, and thus he deploys a multitude of different mediums: from alabaster tablets like we see in this lot, to threadwork, to bronze. Likewise, he is an artist of many forms: part ceramist, sculptor, print-maker, and all around visionary.

Rachid Koraïchi's use of multiple mediums creates a fluidity that allows him to explore different historical, artistic and theoretical facets. In this particular artwork we see two exquisite alabaster tablets paired with Islamic calligraphy and design, weighing approximately 35 pounds each. The sculpted tablets draw references to key Islamic iconography, including the 'Alabaster Mosque' in Cairo.

With a career spanning five decades, Rachid Koraïchi is a world-renowned artist with exhibitions that have been featured in the Venice Biennale, the MOMA, the inaugural exhibition at the Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi in 2015, and in the collection of the National Museum of African Art in Washington D.C. Koraïchi works in Paris with major projects in Algeria, Egypt, Spain, Tunisia, USA and Dagestan. Koraïchi won the prestigious Jameel prize in 2011, has been featured in 'The Future of Tradition', Haus der Kunst Munich 2010, and presented in 'Word into Art' at the British Museum, 2006.

In this particular artwork we can appreciate his visual interpretation (left side) in comparison to the text (right side) in which he defines his posture as to how love should be portrayed to the ones surrounding us and Allah - " Love does not own, and does not compare." We are able to appreciate the dynamic and visual representation that Koraïchi has created based on the Chinese, Sumerian, Hebrew and Arabic alphabets accompanied by numbers, codes and drawings, the "alphabet of memory" as he calls it.