Ali Cherri, a Beirut-born visual artist living in Paris, is obsessed with death as much as mud. To Cherri, mud’s fecund mix of water and earth represents the struggle between opposing forces: decay and rebirth, violence and resistance, myth and reality. From his clay and bronze sculptures to his award-winning films, Cherri’s art interrogates power structures.
For those attending Art Basel Paris, which is open to the public Oct. 18-20, there are several opportunities to experience Cherri’s works. The Almine Rech gallery booth will feature two of his clay and sand figures wearing iron African animal masks. As part of Art Basel’s free public exhibitions, two of Cherri’s installations will be encased at the National Eugène Delacroix Museum. Nearby, Galerie Imane Farès is presenting a solo show, “A Monument to Subtle Rot.” And as part of Paris’s Autumn Festival, actors with a musician will read from his 2020 work, “The Book of Mud.”
Contrary to his art’s darkness, Cherri, 48, is warm and funny, as this reflective interview revealed. The conversation has been edited and condensed.
You have four shows at once during Art Basel where in total you use more than 10 different materials. How do these works connect and explore common themes?
My practice has two main branches. It’s moving image and sculpture objects, with installation. For me, the starting point is always materiality. It’s never an innocent choice when I’m working with one material or another. And always the same question is, how do these materials reveal hidden histories and how are they the entry point in reconstructing — especially histories of violence and of trauma?
