Bio
Mohamed Lekleti was born a French national in Taza, Morocco. He moved to France 20 years ago and lives and works in the south of France in Montpellier. His artistic education includes the DEUG Cinema a l'Universite Paul-Valery in Montpellier and the School of Art in Aix-en-Provence. Lekleti's work has been appreciated in galleries throughout Europe and Africa, including Rabat in Morocco, Salon-de-Provence in Bouches-du-Rhone, Museum de Frontignan, Galerie Bachs Scherrer in Caluire et Cuire, Jupiter in Paris, and many others. His career has taken a dynamic turn since the recent prestigious annual art fair ARTeNIM in Nimes, France. His paintings received the highest marks by French art critics and the recognition created an avalanche of invitations for expositions in France, Switzerland, and Germany.
Artist Statement
“Pardon Me, Leonardo”
A new series of paintings
To dare take on, face to face, the major masterpiece that Mona Lisa represents in the history of the arts is not an easy task.
However, my idea for “Pardon Me, Leonardo” was born from the desire to emancipate Mona Lisa from her conventional beauty and mystery to stress the frenzy of our world today, which revolves around images.
Leonardo managed to express a mysterious portrait with only pictorial means. My intention is to deviate from the original painting and desecrate it—change her by having her wear a veil or by making her think and speak visually by combining her image with other dominant images of our time—images that evoke political, cultural and artistic ideas we are familiar with.
Mohamed Lekhleti -Nashville 2006
