Biography
Reflecting the opportunities for experimentation that drawing allows, Massinissa Selmani’s work often presents montages of drawings and images or short animations in which he mingles humour, irony and sometimes a sense of revolt. Selmani’s images reveal the ambiguities of signs and push their juxtapositions to the point of absurdity. The subjects of his works, which represent the results of a selection process, treatment and cropping inspired by archival and documentary codes, are often sourced from political news, social news and press clippings.
Selmani’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions at Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017); Fonds régional d’art contemporain (FRAC), Orléans, France (2017) ; Zachęta National Gallery, Warsaw (2016); Lyon Biennial (2015); 56th Venice Biennale (2015); Vendôme Triennial, France (2015); Centre de création contemporaine Olivier Debré (CCC OD), Tours, France (2015), Mosaic Rooms, London (2014), Dakar Biennial (2014) and Musée des beaux-arts de Tours (2012), among others.
In 2016, Selmani was the 10th winner of the Art Collector Prize, Paris and the recipient of the SAM Art Projects Prize. He also received a special mention from the jury at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015).
He holds a Diplôme National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique and a Diplôme National d’Arts Plastiques from the École supérieure des beaux-arts de Tours.
Born in 1980 in Algiers, Selmani currently lives and works in Tours.
This person was part of Sharjah Biennial 13.
