Ouahbi Benabdallah
born 1960 in Tunesia,
grew up in Chenini / Gabes in a rural area amidst a family respectfully valuing the elders; fairytales narrated by his grandmother had a strong influence on his imaginative evolution by intensely evoking pictures in him, later enriched by the abstract ornamentic of oriental art which he transformed into drawings from an early age on and remained an evidence so obvious in his images of the oriental historic city - the Moorish influenced Maghreb.
His years as a student at the art-academy in Tunis (end examination: teacher) and studies in Paris introduced him to a new, exciting world which finally lead him to Germany in 1990 and to Mannheim in 1994 where he still lives. Also known as "Ouahbi" he is a renowned portraitist and cartoonist.
Impressed by the independent power of colour in combination with an object, Ouahbi Benabdallah since 1989 inevitably devoted himself to the subject of doors / gates / openings. Beyond the visible surface of these objects a soul may be presumed - the thing-magic becomes evident: objects turn into characters filled with an inner secret life. They are mystified and develop into a sorcerous counterpart.
His works testify an intense attachment to the cultural development of his home country Tunesia. - Paintings of Ouahbi Benabdallah can be found in good private collections.