Biography
Amid El Haddad (°1958) is a Belgian artist, born in Tetouan (Morocco). He currently lives in Belgium with his wife Martine and his daughter Amani. Amid holds a degree in architecture (Victor Horta Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, 1984). He discovered watercolor as a form of aesthetic expression during his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts.
Throughout the years, his interest in watercolor has become an important way to voice his stories.
In 2012, he met the watercolorist Joseph Zbukvic. This has marked a turning point in his artistic career and deeply changed his approach to the medium. Working with other watercolorists greatly inspired his way of observing and analyzing his subjects before translating them into poetic language.
Since 2014, Amid has taken part in several international exhibitions in Belgium, Italy and Morocco. He has also been a tutor for several workshops.
Since 2014, Amid has participated in several international exhibitions NWS, RWS, AWS. He also organizes workshops and runs watercolor workshops in Belgium and in Tuscany. Amid is currently a member of the Belgian Watercolor Institute as well as the National Watercolor Society (Los Angles). He is also eligible to participate in the 152nd American Watercolor Society exhibition in New York. His work received the prize of DR. Peter Angelos Memorial and selected for annual ’travel show’ across the USAHe will also represent Belgium in the international watercolor festival in Urbino in May 2019.
Artist Statement
Faithful to the tradition of Impressionist painters, Amid is an avid Plein-Air painter, producing the majority of his work outdoor. This has helped, over the years, to develop a narrative and scenographic style, which infuse a characteristic story into each painting.
Amid is adept at genuine and immediate rendering, and avoids laborious techniques that could affect the freshness and translucency of the medium.
Throughout the years, Amid has developed a relationship of spirituality towards watercolor. He considers the medium not as a tool, but respects and interacts with it as a partner with its own pace and life cycle.
Unlike other mediums, watercolor puts the artist under constant pressure, challenging the painter to interact with washes and take decisions at the right time. Therefore, Amid believes that only a single brushstroke can express this energy. There is no second chance. The first brushstroke holds all the energy and creativity. Any additional brushstroke can only be corrective and has no artistic value.
In each painting, Amid expresses polarity and contradiction between values and textures so as to create vibration and space. He aims to use the whole range of values that watercolor can offer: dark to clear washes, hard to soft edges, warm to cool tints.
