From May 22 to July 22, 2025, visual artist Ziyad El Mansouri will take over the walls of House of Beau Gallery in Rabat. “Painting: The Last Refuge” is the theme of this solo exhibition, bringing together a compelling selection of the artist’s recent works. “My art is open, dreamy—you can see whatever you feel in it,” says El Mansouri. Art is a royal path that leads to dreams, beauty, and liberation. In today’s shaken, uncertain, and often bleak context, painting emerges as an escape—art makes the world livable.
Painting: a vital gesture...
“There are turbulent times when the world stumbles and sways. Uncertain and fragile under the weight of wars, crises, and fleeting moments that pass in a flash. In those tipping points where chaos threatens to engulf the very meaning of life, one question remains: what power does painting still hold? When words crumble under the urgency of now, what is left to us? Perhaps this spontaneous, ancient act—painting.”
It is around this fundamental form of expression that Ziyad El Mansouri's exhibition “Painting: The Last Refuge” takes shape, according to the show’s curatorial statement.
What is the purpose of art, of the creative act, of painting? How can one artistically—and poetically—inhabit a world that has lost its compass, its sense, and meaning? In the face of such a reality, art not only questions the world we live in, but also tries to make sense of it—to understand it.
“Here, painting is neither ornament nor escapism. It is a vital act. An attempt to inhabit a world that can at times feel inhospitable. A way to resist erasure. A reflection on universal questions that shape our understanding of ourselves and the universe,” the curatorial text continues.
Painting: a source of light, a place of hope
For Ziyad El Mansouri, painting is both a free and freeing gesture. His work transcends conventional boundaries. Between light and shadow, dream and introspection, his artistic universe unfolds under the sign of the tragic—a perpetual tension.
For him, night is an opening, a promise. A space of possibility, a trembling beginning—it becomes the crucible from which light suddenly emerges. “It paints itself—I’m just the medium,” he says.
Painting is light. A place of hope, par excellence. Even at the heart of darkness, it brings forth glimmers, carving pathways for the spirit toward luminous and peaceful horizons, where beauty becomes possible.
“That light illuminates what remains when all seems lost. It reveals the essential, the intimate—what is still human amid the turmoil. It stands as a testimony to the power of artistic expression,” the exhibition text reads.
The exhibition opening will take place on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in the intimate setting of the House of Beau Galleryin Témara. The event will unveil a major selection of Ziyad El Mansouri’s work and will be punctuated by an exclusive musical performance by the artist himself, a guitarist and pianist whose inspirations transcend disciplines.
