A Glimpse Into the Life
of Hassan Hajjaj
|
Born in Morocco, based in UK, Hassan Hajjaj is a self-taught artist whose art has attracted the attention of audiences in three different continents in a relatively short period of time. It is bound to get bigger and better for all the right reasons. But was this a well planned journey or was it more about life taking its own route? Marrakech to London. It’s been a fun journey, but no, no, it wasn’t a plan of mine. Father moved to the UK for work in the 60s. He brought the family in early 70s. At thirteen years old, I had no say in that decision. I still had to follow orders at that point. Becoming an artist was a natural progression after years of working with many artists: stylists, musicians, film makers, designers, and more. Running underground clubs, designing for fashion labels, setting up spaces, materializing themes, helping along with this and that, I was always doing things but never under my own name. It didn’t feel right to say I was doing art because I hadn’t gone to art school. |
photo: courtesy of the artist |
But I was always surrounded by people in the arts.
Photography was more of a hobby of sorts for years. I didn’t make much of it but I never gave it up. This was the story until my works caught the attention of Rose Issa the curator who saw my work and saw something in it. She took it upon herself to introduce it to the world and we’ve been rolling. Actually my first show took place in 2000. It was mostly about pop products. Andy Warhol style. While I was doing that, I was still taking pictures. It is around 2006 that Rose Issa saw my work.
Your works are colorful and lively. Never dull realities or desperate people. What’s the objective? What were your expectations and what do you make of it all?
My work is about things and people around me and who have inspired me. That was the goal.
It all came together with me using everything I had learned in the past, music videos, assistant styling, setting up shop or clubs. I have always been interested in people, characters who inspired me. Belly dancers, henna artists, artisans.
Being in London, traveling around, eating different food, listening to various music. All of this has affected me in my work.
It’s part of the journey. In the beginning, I thought it would be difficult for European audiences to understand my work as being from another culture. I was not really expecting much. But London has been good to me. My works have been shown in a number of galleries, collected in the British Museum. I have never been about making it to the big name artist lists. Just not concerned about stuff like that. Certainly it’s not about making it in the calendar of British Artists. I’ve always said, I’m not English but I’m a Londoner. If that makes sense.
Photography was more of a hobby of sorts for years. I didn’t make much of it but I never gave it up. This was the story until my works caught the attention of Rose Issa the curator who saw my work and saw something in it. She took it upon herself to introduce it to the world and we’ve been rolling. Actually my first show took place in 2000. It was mostly about pop products. Andy Warhol style. While I was doing that, I was still taking pictures. It is around 2006 that Rose Issa saw my work.
Your works are colorful and lively. Never dull realities or desperate people. What’s the objective? What were your expectations and what do you make of it all?
My work is about things and people around me and who have inspired me. That was the goal.
It all came together with me using everything I had learned in the past, music videos, assistant styling, setting up shop or clubs. I have always been interested in people, characters who inspired me. Belly dancers, henna artists, artisans.
Being in London, traveling around, eating different food, listening to various music. All of this has affected me in my work.
It’s part of the journey. In the beginning, I thought it would be difficult for European audiences to understand my work as being from another culture. I was not really expecting much. But London has been good to me. My works have been shown in a number of galleries, collected in the British Museum. I have never been about making it to the big name artist lists. Just not concerned about stuff like that. Certainly it’s not about making it in the calendar of British Artists. I’ve always said, I’m not English but I’m a Londoner. If that makes sense.
HASSAN HAJJAJ - Blue Eyes, 2010
Metallic Lambda Print On 3mm White Dibond 52 1/2h x 38 5/8w in / 133.3h x 98w cm |
HASSAN HAJJAJ - Poetic Pilgrimage, 2010 Metallic lambda print on 3mm white dibond 53 1/2h x 39 5/8w in / 136h x 100.5w cm
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HASSAN HAJJAJ - Khadija, 2010
Metallic lambda print on 3mm white dibond 24 1/2h x 35 5/8w in / 62.2h x 90.4w cm |
Courtesy of the artist and Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York
A few words about Hassan Hajjaj art across the pond & in NYC represented by Taymour Grahne Gallery.
America is a very personal place for me. Hip hop music has been a big influence. Graffiti artists. Luckily some of these amazing people came and saw my work and liked my work. And that has been a major thing.
NY is the base. It gives me an opportunity to spread my reach. Also, my works have traveled to Ohio, Boston and other parts of Massachusetts, Miami, LA. America is very welcoming.
Taymour Grahne Gallery represents my works in New York. Taymour had the biggest blog on Arab artists. He had written about my works. When he decided to open up a gallery I was part of the roster. First with a group show and then a solo exhibition. He let me do exactly what I wanted. It was really great. On the one hand, this was a new gallery and I was new in a way as well. It worked out really nice for both.
Do you generally work in the UK or Morocco? Do you have a specific set of requirements about the environment and people around you while you’re involved in a particular project?
Designated work spots: London as well as Marrakech. I have my space in Marrakech. I work with artisans there which is great. In London I have a studio and a show room. Different worlds, but parallel realities.
For me the photography is a safe bet, I am in control. When I design and I have artisans I work with and from them I have learned a lot. I have learned about the history of the people. We talk about food, share jokes, listen to music. It sort of balances out the time of being alone at the studio. Working with artisans gets me involved with a lot of people. At the same time, if I make something, I am also giving back. It helps that way as well.
The Artist’s Attitude toward Reviews. Are you ever caught by surprise by what’s said in response to your works?
Things are simple. Sometimes things are analyzed, overanalyzed even. The intellectual side is great, sometimes maybe a tad much. When Kesh Angels came out, we received amazing reviews. But funny things were said, too, quiet naïve actually. There was a moment or two when it was hard to ignore traces of racism. I mean, of course, there were a lot of positive comments and reviews, but “women in veil can’t ride bikes” and funny stuff like that were part of it as well.
At the end of the day, reviews also tell of the way people see the world. Artists show/tell something that could be read in a wrong way. No matter what, it’s the audience making the decision of what they see in an art work and it’s an eye opening experience for all involved.
What are the cultural references in your works? Specific art, artists, and people who make you jump for joy or simply inspire you to create more of your own art works?
I got the Moroccan Side: Indian movies, Egyptian Billy Holiday, local bands. I left Morocco at 13. But at thirteen you still remember what you left behind. Coming to the UK, learning English, new culture, fitting in, it wasn’t easy. Motown, 70s music, James Brown, jazz, jazz fusion, reggae, hip-hop, all part of my world. There are so many artists, whose works I have enjoyed and that have inspired me. I love the movies. American, French, Indian films. I didn’t study art. I went to the galleries but not really dedicated at first. My learning experiences are more a direct result of working with people who were making films, music, photographers, designers, even the ones struggling to make it, they were still passionate about it. I wasn’t interested in the fame.
I spoke French when I came in London. Just a few words of it now. I grew up with French films and in Morocco French is the second language. Being open to different cultures is really amazing.
What I left behind: one big strong culture. What you see in my picture is a celebration at the same time. Smells, simple stuff that I can’t even describe right. Joking, playing football, going to the beach, going to my grandparents’ village where there is no electricity or plumbing. Everything back to the basics. People. Products. Still the same. Still stuff from the 60s.
Upcoming projects:
VIP Room – African Room Fair in October in London. In November in LA. Art Basel in Miami in December.
Another project for Dubai. A solo show through my gallery Third Line in Dubai.
Taymour Grahne Gallery will exhibit my works during the Freeze Art Fair in NYC next year. Back to LA again.
I got projects lined up until the end of next year. It’s good.
America is a very personal place for me. Hip hop music has been a big influence. Graffiti artists. Luckily some of these amazing people came and saw my work and liked my work. And that has been a major thing.
NY is the base. It gives me an opportunity to spread my reach. Also, my works have traveled to Ohio, Boston and other parts of Massachusetts, Miami, LA. America is very welcoming.
Taymour Grahne Gallery represents my works in New York. Taymour had the biggest blog on Arab artists. He had written about my works. When he decided to open up a gallery I was part of the roster. First with a group show and then a solo exhibition. He let me do exactly what I wanted. It was really great. On the one hand, this was a new gallery and I was new in a way as well. It worked out really nice for both.
Do you generally work in the UK or Morocco? Do you have a specific set of requirements about the environment and people around you while you’re involved in a particular project?
Designated work spots: London as well as Marrakech. I have my space in Marrakech. I work with artisans there which is great. In London I have a studio and a show room. Different worlds, but parallel realities.
For me the photography is a safe bet, I am in control. When I design and I have artisans I work with and from them I have learned a lot. I have learned about the history of the people. We talk about food, share jokes, listen to music. It sort of balances out the time of being alone at the studio. Working with artisans gets me involved with a lot of people. At the same time, if I make something, I am also giving back. It helps that way as well.
The Artist’s Attitude toward Reviews. Are you ever caught by surprise by what’s said in response to your works?
Things are simple. Sometimes things are analyzed, overanalyzed even. The intellectual side is great, sometimes maybe a tad much. When Kesh Angels came out, we received amazing reviews. But funny things were said, too, quiet naïve actually. There was a moment or two when it was hard to ignore traces of racism. I mean, of course, there were a lot of positive comments and reviews, but “women in veil can’t ride bikes” and funny stuff like that were part of it as well.
At the end of the day, reviews also tell of the way people see the world. Artists show/tell something that could be read in a wrong way. No matter what, it’s the audience making the decision of what they see in an art work and it’s an eye opening experience for all involved.
What are the cultural references in your works? Specific art, artists, and people who make you jump for joy or simply inspire you to create more of your own art works?
I got the Moroccan Side: Indian movies, Egyptian Billy Holiday, local bands. I left Morocco at 13. But at thirteen you still remember what you left behind. Coming to the UK, learning English, new culture, fitting in, it wasn’t easy. Motown, 70s music, James Brown, jazz, jazz fusion, reggae, hip-hop, all part of my world. There are so many artists, whose works I have enjoyed and that have inspired me. I love the movies. American, French, Indian films. I didn’t study art. I went to the galleries but not really dedicated at first. My learning experiences are more a direct result of working with people who were making films, music, photographers, designers, even the ones struggling to make it, they were still passionate about it. I wasn’t interested in the fame.
I spoke French when I came in London. Just a few words of it now. I grew up with French films and in Morocco French is the second language. Being open to different cultures is really amazing.
What I left behind: one big strong culture. What you see in my picture is a celebration at the same time. Smells, simple stuff that I can’t even describe right. Joking, playing football, going to the beach, going to my grandparents’ village where there is no electricity or plumbing. Everything back to the basics. People. Products. Still the same. Still stuff from the 60s.
Upcoming projects:
VIP Room – African Room Fair in October in London. In November in LA. Art Basel in Miami in December.
Another project for Dubai. A solo show through my gallery Third Line in Dubai.
Taymour Grahne Gallery will exhibit my works during the Freeze Art Fair in NYC next year. Back to LA again.
I got projects lined up until the end of next year. It’s good.
