2Fik is a French-born, Quebec-based artist of Moroccan heritage who deals with issues of identity in his work. He is a performance artist and photographer frequently targeting religion and sexuality in playful ways, taking the dual role of artist and model in his performances and photographs.
He’s developed about a dozen personas, both male and female, that include Abdel, a bearded, macho, religious man from Casablanca and his devout wife, Fatima; Ludmilla-Mary, with a big beard, a veil, and a huge personality; Marco, a closeted, Italian Moroccan with a secret crush on Abdel; and Sofiane, Abel’s younger brother, an aspiring hip-hop artist.
2Fik recreated a number of signature paintings such as Manet’s well-known dejeuner sur l’herbe posed as each of the four figures. In one version the man facing the nude figure wears a purple hoodie. In another he wears a yellow polo shirt and chinos.
La Grande Intendante (The Great Maiden) is a contemporary take on Ingre’s Grande Odalique (Great Chambermaid). A nude Ludmilla-Mary stretches out, wearing a long, pink glove and holding a black feather-duster, a plastic bottle of bright blue window cleaning liquid nearby.
The artist recently presented a public talk and slide show at the San Francisco Art Institute as part of the school’s Visiting Artists And Scholars Lecture Series. The event was co-sponsored by the French Consulate.
More information about 2Fik is available on his Facebook page.
copyright © 2016 by N. A. Diaman, all rights reserved.
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