Cocorico paintings, Adel Abdessemed

Each work is an assemblage of strips of recycled metal made by North African craftsmen. Brightly-coloured ribbons cut from toxic waste containers are knitted together or welded with strips from food and drink cans to make unique tapestries, and each one is adorned with a different phrase. These words often take the form of cultural maxims, or are drawn from the realms of music, art history or literature. The Cocorico Paintings tell the story of a struggle between the individual and the industrial at a material level; the struggle of art in a world of mass consumption and globalised markets. Adel Abdessemed - born 1971 in Constantine (Algeria), lives and works in Paris .