Lot 65: Sans toi, ni moi ou l'hallucination nostalgique

RACHID KORAICHI (ALGERIAN, B. 1947)
Sans toi, ni moi ou l'hallucination nostalgique
Signed and dated 'R. KORAICHI 1986', signed again in Arabic and titled 'sans toi, ni moi, ou l'hallucination nostalgique'; artist's stamp with the same text (on the reverse)
ink on clay on panel
27½ x 21¼in. (70 x 54cm.)
Painted in 1986

Rachid Koraichi's work is based around calligraphic-seeming symbols, which though of indecipherable meaning are highly expressive. This work combines Arabic characters with Chinese-style ideograms, and recalls talismanic shirts and panels used historically in the Islamic world (see the introduction before lot 133 for an example). Koraichi works in a number of different media, sometimes embroidering his symbols in gold on silk banners, and at other times inscribing them on to ceramic or cutting them out of steel, to create a new universal language.