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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHendrik Beikirch AKA ECB. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n 25 minutes outside of Marrakesh in the middle of a 32 acre olive grove, this is an artist\u2019s residency unlike many, where vandals are invited. They also are encouraged to push themselves creatively and develop their skills, techniques and try new disciplines outside their comfort zones.<\/p>\n Created and funded largely by one visionary collector, a private French businessman of Russian heritage who says he discovered his own love of graffiti using china marker on city walls while he was a homeless teen in the 1960s, the residency stands apart from others in the full spectrum of support and direction it gives.<\/p>\n From French portrait stencilist C215 and German aerosol portraitist ECB to members of New York\u2019s graffiti stars Tats Cru to the Franco-Congolese painter Kouka, the aerosol atmospherics of Benjamin Laading and abstractly juicy tag clouds of Sun7, the commonality of these street practitioners is their willingness to experiment, and their drive to produce quality work. Quietly building a reputation with this invitation-only residency, high quality shows marketed directly to collectors, and a new ambitious museum space with the Montresso Foundation, Jardin Rouge is setting its own standard.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n C215. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhen artists come here we ask them to express themselves in their own style. The second thing we ask is to concentrate on the quality of their work and the craft. I don\u2019t like artists who don\u2019t take care of their quality, I don\u2019t respect them,\u201d says Jean-Louis, a white maned lion with firm opinions and an empathetic gaze.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso it is about presentation \u2013 a lot of artists have no idea how to present their work \u2013 but we always talk to the artist about how to make their final presentation, their final work.\u201d When he describes this dynamic, you realize that as an artist, no matter what level of professionalism you enter Jardin Rouge with, it will raise a notch or two by the time you leave.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kouka. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n Speaking to current and former artists-in-residence, it\u2019s clear that it is a tight ship with an expert crew. All materials, needs, and ideas can be discussed, and there is a focus on professionalism and readiness for development. Sun7 (or Sunset), a dynamic expressionist and graffiti writer who still runs a fatcap and a thick marker across city walls in Paris, London, New York as well as the occasional corporate brand gig, told us on a recent Saturday morning that he had gone into Marrakesh the night before to party with friends until sunrise, but he was determined to get into the studio by 10 am regardless. \u201cThese guys give us so much and I want to make sure I\u2019m giving my best back too.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sun7. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n Jean-Louis purchased the area near the Ouidane village in 2003 and began coaching his first artist in 2007, not realizing that the guidance he was giving to one would grow into the double digits in terms of artists who he now works with. The Montresso foundation is essentially sponsored by its founder and by donations from different partners and art collectors.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the beginning of Jardin Rouge this was my hobby. Then artists began hearing about this little by little and asking if they could come for a residency. We began the project slowly and became perhaps more professional and expanded our team,\u201d he says. Collectors were slow to come as well, but eventually that changed thanks to well-attended openings, studio visits, and a marketing push that produces print catalogues and video pieces about the artists.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Montresso Foundation on the grounds of Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe started to do something more attractive and more people began to hear about this, and also collectors began to hear about it. We have a lot of collectors and they are not necessarily so interested in street art per se but when they come to a place like this their perception of street art begins to change.\u201d<\/p>\n BSA: We have noticed that it is very important here to encourage artists to test themselves in new mediums that maybe they are not comfortable with but it is perhaps your philosophy to encourage them to do something outside of their normal practice. Can you talk about that because it is not something that we normally see.<\/p>\n Jean-Louis: At the beginning the idea was to meet with some young artists, some street artists and to give them the possibility to make something. I never want to encroach on their technique. You have your talents you have your technique. But slowly I began asking artists to please try to do something that was not in the street, perhaps with canvas or for something else. This was the idea in the beginning \u2013 to help some artists to grow.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n TILT. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt is a place to do something different from what you are doing in your own studio,\u201d says TILT, who has had two residencies here, and who is intensely working on two concurrent shows with Jardin Rouge this year. \u201cI think the good thing is that you don\u2019t have the environment, you don\u2019t have the pressure that you have when you are in your own studio, in your own city and surrounded by people you know.\u201d<\/p>\n During an interview we did with him there we found that a familiar story continued to emerge; a supportive environment can actually make artists dream bigger.<\/p>\n \u201cSo here you can try and you can fail,\u201d TILT says. \u201cAnd if you fail its okay \u2013 it\u2019s part of the game. It\u2019s a huge space and maybe you don\u2019t have to think about all of the materials because it is also easy to get them here. The structure is so well managed that if you need something, something is going to come to you. So you think totally differently, it is like a \u201cdeluxe\u201d studio. Your mind is not stopped because you thought \u2018oh I wanted to do that but I can\u2019t\u2019 because the frame is going to cost too much\u2026 or I need 6 or 7 people to help me move this car from one room to another. So its like everything is possible and that can really open up your mind.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n Steven P. Harrington of BSA interviews TILT. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n The Toulouse, France-born graffiti writer speaks from his own experience since the centerpieces of his new two-location show required cutting an entire car in half, reconstructing and stabilizing it, and mounting the half cars in two locations in two countries.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we decided to do the giant piece, the big car, I also wanted to experiment with something, to try to work with a different material, and since I think my work is kind of dirty \u2013 dirty graffiti, primitive graffiti \u2013 far from what Street Art can represent \u2013 I think that my work needs more knowledge about the history of graffiti, about the letters, about the texture, about accumulation. I had never worked with drywall and these other materials \u2013 it\u2019s a super difficult medium to work with and so I thought that Jardin Rouge was probably the right place to try to make it work.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n TILT. Detail. Montresso Foundation. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n The \u201cVoyage Aller Retour (Outbound and Return Trip)\u201d show was constructed over many weeks and made at Jardin Rouge studios, with the \u201cOutbound Trip\u201d shown at the Marrakesh Biennale this spring and the \u201cReturn Trip\u201d half shown for the Epoxy event at Mus\u00e9e Les Abbatoirs in Toulouse, France in June.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n TILT. Detail. Montresso Foundation. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n Each half of the car is piled comically high with worldly goods that are tied to the roof, and the entire car with possessions is sprayed with aerosol graffiti tags, throw ups, bubble letters and drippy callouts to peers and their family members. Two directions of migration are represented, with one carrying home-made and natural goods and articles that a family in the country may bring to the city, and the other transporting the electronic entertainment and consumer goods that a metropolitan family car might bring to relatives in the country. It\u2019s a metaphor in degrees that addresses first and third world migration as well and a graffiti-covered touchstone that indirectly speaks to the refugee crises affecting war-torn Syria and much of Europe<\/p>\n Writer and cultural critic Butterfly describes TILT\u2019s \u201cVoyage\u201d; \u201cHe is fetishizing an object, the Peugeot 404 car, appreciating it for its properties regardless of its practical, social and cultural interests. Tilt sanctifies the object by vandalizing it; he breaks down the unstable and fluctuating barriers of the work of art.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n TILT. Montresso Foundation. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n We had the opportunity to see \u201cVoyage Aller\u201d mounted inside the new spacious and modern museum-quality Montresso Foundation building and TILT\u2019s eye-popping explosion of color held its ground in the massive new modern space. For the team and the foundation partners, this inaugural show with an accompanying outdoor garden and terrace also showcases Jean-Louis\u2019 unique and powerful vision as architect as well.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n TILT. Detail. Montresso Foundation. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alongside the reflecting pools and pens for horses, goats, cows, and other farm animals is a statue of a huge geometrically planed gorilla and painted facades with colorful character-based graffiti scattered across the property and popping in and out of view overhead. From atop one of these red roofs you can observe a wide hazy basin spreading for many kilometers south to the foothills of the snow-capped Atlas Mountains an hour and a half\u2019s drive by car.<\/em>\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Manicured lawns, cacti, palm, and olive trees frame wending walkways that lead through the one or two story buildings and into the many indoor spaces and breezeways that connect artists studios, living quarters, guest accommodations, entertaining rooms, an ample dining area, production and professional offices. It all feels like a gallery and changing series of installations, indoors and out. As we walk with Elise Levine, the communications manager, throughout the buildings we see walls hung with canvasses of Jean-Louis\u2019 collection and others of artists who have had residencies here.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n TILT in the middle with Mr. Harrington on the right and a guest on the left standing in the lobby of the Montresso Foundation. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n In these surroundings it is not difficult to imagine how artists can make the transition to contemporary art without losing their personal connection to the street. The sensual Fenx splashes pop beauties with thick tagging, Tarek Benaoum manifests calligraffiti as something ornamental and precise and Kashink\u2019s comic characters make wisecracks in front of you, each with four eyes. With Elise\u2019s personal warmth and knack for storytelling about artists and installations, the Moroccan wood cabinetry, mid century modern furniture, patterned textiles, and specially designed light fixtures all impart a non-restrictive peaceful environment.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n JO BER. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n We had the opportunity to see an eclectic handful of the artists studios, which all come equipped with materials and tools that enable the artists to do their work and not worry about the typical concerns of artists life.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n KASHINK. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n Benjamin Laading leads us into his studio, about the sized of a family one-car garage, but with a full wall of window that allows the sun to flood the space with light. A Norwegian painter who says he still writes graffiti he is working here on capturing the impressive forms known to fat cap sprayers everywhere, the bending of light in waves of a tube-like pointillism. In fact, that\u2019s what he is turning it into.<\/p>\n \u201cI started to think about how I could look at and talk about the tag \u2013 the core of graffiti that is the first line, the expressive line on the canvas,\u201d he says as he pulls out his newest studies of this momentary movement of a gestural spray technique.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n Benjamin Laading. Detail. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n Each canvas captures a momentary movement, but each is actually carefully hand-rendered with refined dabbing over a longer period of time to achieve the exact effect. It is a tribute to the untamed wildness of quick tagging by graffiti artists but he hopes to delivery a galaxy inside the spray.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are always pushing me to do experiments,\u201d he says, \u201cI tried to find natural movement that looks like it was drawn very quickly.\u201d The twist is that he recreates them with a brush, painstakingly pointillizing the dust and the energy that swoops across the canvas as a painting. After all, he says, \u201cThe spray stroke is made out of an accumulation of dots.\u201d The effect is stark and energetic, atmospheric, and structural.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n Benjamin Laading. Detail. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s really a laboratory for a lot of artists to try something new here,\u201d says Estelle Guili\u00e9, the artistic director since joining in 2014 and producing the first Jardin Rouge exhibition entitled \u201cBehind the Red Wall\u201d featuring a graffiti-heavy roster including BIO, BG, CEEK, and SY along with stencil artist ECB and warrior painter Kouka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have one artist here who uses canvases for example all the time and I said to him \u2018hey man for 20 years you have worked on the same medium and you don\u2019t have your own signature. Maybe if you reflect on your work you can choose another language to express your art. He tested something new here for the first time and he has had a lot of success,\u201d she says with a smile, \u201cand now he can continue with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n C215. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, it strikes one that the entire complex is a diary, a philosophy of making work and the process of discovery. Sometime when Street Art \/ and Urban Art enters into a place, it dies. Here it feels alive, and many times just as consequential as it can be on the street.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Gold fish pool provides serenity and inspiration. Detail. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo)<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt would be a great present to us if after 4 or 5 years someone sees one of these works by an artist and they say, \u2018This artist was at Jardin Rouge, \u2013 or Montresso Foundation \u2013 and for this person it will stand for a label of quality,\u2019\u201d says Jean-Louis. With the establishment of the Montresso Foundation exhibition space, plans are afoot to develop larger exhibitions and the expansion of a permanent collection that reflects the movement of urban art into the contemporary art realm \u2013 obviously with an eye for what comes next.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n TILT. Montresso Foundation. Jardin Rouge. Morocco. (photo \u00a9 Jaime Rojo<\/em>)<\/span><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n A partial list of Jardin Rouge alumni:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 310<\/strong>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/urban-nation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/urban-nation-museum-c215-jardin-rouge-Jaime-Rojo-morocco-02-2016-web-2.jpg\")
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Benjamin LAADING<\/strong>
C\u00e9drix CRESPEL<\/a><\/strong>
CEET<\/strong>
Denis TEVEKOV<\/strong>
FENX<\/strong>
GODDOG<\/strong>
Hendrik BEIKIRCH<\/strong>
JACE<\/strong>
JO BER<\/strong>
KASHINK<\/strong>
KOUKA<\/a><\/strong>
MAD C<\/strong>
Neurone<\/strong>
POES<\/strong><\/a>
RESO I C\u00e9dric LASCOURS<\/a><\/strong>
Roxane Daumas<\/strong>
SY I Vitaly TSARENKOV<\/a><\/strong>
Sun7<\/a><\/strong>
Tarek BENAOUM<\/strong>
TATS CRU<\/strong>
TILT<\/strong><\/a>
Vitaly RUSAKOV<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n