Djabril Boukhenaïssi

Djabril Boukhenaïssi (b. 1993 in France; lives and works between Paris and the Perche region) explores the delicate threshold between reality and fiction in constructing memory. He relies exclusively on sketches of past experiences to create his paintings, distancing himself from the immediacy of the photographic process.  

His references span art history, philosophy, literature, and poetry. Influenced by German and French Romanticism, he explores representations of night and its symbolism in Western art history. In his pictorial approach to nocturnal poetics, human and animal figures, both real and semi-fantastical, are revealed in intimate paintings and engravings that respond to each other. These include the repeated use of violet to represent night and the recurring motif of the Phalene, a kind of nocturnal moth.  Pastel is crucial to his technique, creating delicate and vibrant textures over layers of oil paint. This method captures images where figures become partially abstract as they blend with the background, evoking the surreal depths of a dream. 

Djabril Boukhenaïssi graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Universität der Künste in Berlin. Boukhenaïssi also holds a degree in philosophy from the Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis. In 2023, he won the first edition of the Lee Ufan Arles & GUERLAIN Art & Environment Prize. 

The artist's forthcoming solo exhibition will open in fall 2025 at our Chicago gallery.