Since 2000, Dar El Sadaka is home to visual artist Jean-François Fourtou. Some of his most iconic works can only be enjoyed on our property grounds. His sculptures and architectural constructions create delight, offer surprises and invite our guests to extraordinary experiences. But who is JeanFrançois Fourtou?
Jean-François Fourtou became known in the 1990s for his unique sculptures of animals – lambs, giraffes, snails, and orang-utans, among others – following the inspiration of François Pompom. However, there is a fine distinction: Fourtou is less interested in animals from a naturalist’s point of view than he is to evoking the world of childhood, half-magical, half-remembered, and most of all, his own.
The self-portrait that Jean-François Fourtou constructs sculpturally finds its expressiveness through the astonishing art of re-creation. The objects of his focus are cabins, houses, interiors, hiding places, actual places that have disappeared, created on different scales; they are intimately linked to parts of his personal life.
Jean-François Fourtou was born on April 30, 1964 in Paris. He lives and works in Marrakesh, Morocco. He was awarded a diploma in 1992 by the Superior National School of Fine art, Paris, France. Many solo exhibitions have been dedicated to him during the last years: at the MAMO (Marseille) in 2014, at the FRAC Langedoc Roussillon-Iconoscope in 2005, at la Verrière in Bruxelles in 2003, etc. His work is also regularly featured in collective exhibitions: at the Musée Fesch of Ajaccio in 2011, at the Musée d’Art Contemporain of Sao Paulo in 2009, at la Grande Halle de la Villette in 2007, among others. He took part to the Festival « Fantastic » Lille 3000 in 2012, to the Marrakech Biennale in 2010 and to the Nuits Blanches in Paris in 2004 and in Rome in 2005.
Visit Jean-François Fourtou’s website: www.jffourtou.com
