Today science and appear to be worlds apart, at least in peopel's mind because of their respective theory and language .indeed specialists of both worlds cultivate this discrepancy throuth vulgarisation or interviews. Historically however science and art have evolved hand in hand. The universal mind incarnated by leonardo da vinci was in favour of a committed approach of the painter whose role to make science appear clearly into the physical world. But if we apply this view today's painting, trying for example to explain picasso's cubism througt geometry, however satisfying it may seem to our intellect , it would only leave us dissatisfied artistically speaking . Pursuing the same way, this above mentioned universal ambition, the young algerian artist Farid Izemmour produces works whose effect will not surprisingly combine visual arts and mathematics ,on which he is a matter of fact. very keen he entitled his latest collection of painting "fractals"-a mathematical notion he himself defines as "an arborescent and ramified frame which embodies a complex structure".so the public will propably discover whithin each of his paintings (103cm x 123cm) an attempt to visualize this abstract scientific notion .

but, of course, if the title of this collection helps us to desipher his works, other obvious elements interacted in the artist's creativity: Arab Calligraphy and technique for instance but also decorative patterns typical of blue mosques as well as a large influence from occidental abstract painting which originated with Kandinsky .as you can see it, Farid Izemmour is a conscious artist who inherited from two parallel cultures uniting in the harmony of spheres, or mixing in a blazing vertigo or even fading in between the game of colours and cultures, of various memories that are expressed and compressed onto paper. Calligraphy has an influence but only "in reference to the act of communication ".

"I am a painter -vehicle or transmitter and not a creator".Dripping?splasching?"I work on a holder that lies under myself, on the floor, and I run aroud it, letting colours drop from my brushes, or rocking and swinging the holder- the brushe only comes in later, if it does at all . "in the end you get a huge arabesque drawin go on an interweaving of blue and pink.

The thin-skinned artist is present on the bursting bubbles.order and disorder arise from chaos and intelligence.beyond geometry there is a continuous struggle between emotion and brain, between the intellect and the material world. From the first to his last works (I - XII) the painter finds his place and the sobriety of the painting liberates little by little its basic idea :"I can't explain it, I can't why", says the artist himself in front of his twelfth work of art. And Farid Izemmour adds, as if in a dream,"the spirit of peace guides me ",I want to "build bridges",and work like this in the delicate balance between successive moments of balance and imbalance." But please,ladies and gentlemen, have a closer look at his twelve latest works "fractals" and enjoy them.

april 7 1998
b. berset