Ilias Selfati was born in Tangier in 1967.
After graduating from the School of Fine Arts in Tetouan, he enrolled at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), where he studied printmaking techniques from 1992 to 1994.
Through his longstanding engagement with printmaking, Ilias Selfati has developed a natural inclination towards essential forms. His horses, for example, are reduced to their simplest outlines, stripped of any embellishment or excess that might distract from the essential. Printmaking techniques inform Selfati’s work, sometimes blurring the distinction between media: although painted, certain works create the illusion of being prints.
Horses, forests, water lilies and scarab beetles are the principal subjects of Selfati’s paintings. His horses are depicted without ears or tails, giving them a distinctive character. By placing his own stamp on a motif drawn from the outside world, the painter asserts it as a creation of his own imagination and hands. In doing so, he brings fresh life to a subject explored by countless artists before him. Selfati’s interest in horses dates back to his childhood. His father served in the cavalry of the Royal Army, introducing his son to their beauty and teaching him to ride from a very young age.
Ilias Selfati holds an important place in the renewal of painting in Morocco. He is among the artists whose work demonstrates that painting is fully compatible with contemporary artistic expression.