The enthusiastic response to Moroccan artist Touils’ first solo show with Maddox in May 2024 has led him to embark on a creative journey somewhere new. Set to be unveiled when Touils returns to our Berkeley Street gallery in February 2025, the Arabic Collection highlights the artist’s continued love of travel and skill in portraying the essence and beauty of a culture.

Since relocating to Dubai from France in the summer of 2024, Touils has embraced his new world. Rich in cultural heritage, the Arabic lifestyle has been a revelation to the artist. A reminder that one of the main purposes of his practice is to take the viewer on a journey, his narrative-driven works paint a picture of a culturally rich environment that is deeply rooted in traditions.

Spanning landscapes and portraits of the Emirati people, Touils brings a newfound strength and luminosity to his work. To capture the stark beauty of the desert, the pale stone of the mosques and the traditional kanduras worn by Emirati men, shades of white have become elemental to his paintings.

Adapting his palette is part of a broader evolution in Touils’ artistic style. His new surroundings have encouraged him to soften his brush strokes and experiment with deeper, brighter tones to better reflect life in the UAE. In one painting, Touils captures the art of weaving carpets—a traditional handcraft that is slowly disappearing in Dubai—in warm shades of orange. In another, he portrays Katara Mosque in neighbouring Qatar in purple and ochre, with the richness of the colours reflecting the beauty of the hand-painted glass tiles that decorate its exterior.

Touils’ artistic signature—covering the canvas with vertical white lines—is present throughout the Arabic Collection. “Adding these white lines brings so much volume to my paintings,” he explains. “Their interwoven quality reminds me of the rich tapestry of Arabic civilisation that stretches around the world.”

The Arabic Collection can be viewed as a homecoming of sorts. An immersion into a way of life that, just a year ago, was just a fading memory for the artist, these new works bind Touils to both his homeland and his newfound home in Dubai while preserving the customs, ceremonies and traditions of Arabic culture that are at the core of his identity.