Born ini 1980 in Algeria, Selmani lives and works in France and Algeria. Selmani’s work addresses contemporary and political issues through drawings that combine a documentary approach with fictional constructions and animations. He constructs situations that confront, juxtapose and even superposition the elements in a context that has systematically been concealed. Selmani produces exaggerated and enigmatic scenes inconceivable to reality, bearing witness to the absurdity of human behavior. He balances depictions between the comical and the tragic and introduces architecture as an instrument of power.
He studied computer science in Algeria, Massinissa Selmani graduated from the École supérieure des beaux-arts in Tours.
He has recently exhibited at major museums and institutions, including Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France / the Dakar Biennial, Senegal / the Lyon Biennial, France / FRAC Centre, Orléans, France / Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK / IVAM, Valencia, Spain / the Museum of African Art of Belgrade, Serbia / Centre Pompidou, Paris, France / Biennale d'Architecture, Orléans, France / Drawing Biennale, London, UK / Sharjah Biennale / Triennale de Vendome / Kochi-Muziris Biennale. His work has subsequently been hailed by a special mention of the jury at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015. In 2016, He received the Art Collector Prize and the SAM Art Projects Prize for contemporary art.
Massinissa has also been featured in the book African Art Now by Osei Bonsu, co-published by the Tate Publishing and Ilex.
Selmani’s work forms part of prestigious collections of art, including Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France / MAC, Lyon, France / Josée and Marc Gensollen collection, Marseille, France / Samdani Art Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh and Fondazione Pierluigi e Natalina Remotti, Camogli, Italy / The British Museum, London, United Kingdom / FRAC Centre, Orléans, France / CNAP.
Courtesy of Selma Feriani Gallery
