Driss Ouadahi is participating in Beautiful & Austere: The Power of Ornament, an upcoming exhibition at the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal, Germany, exploring the function and significance of ornament in art from Classical Modernism to the present day.
Drawing on the internationally renowned collection of the Von der Heydt Museum, the exhibition examines how artists have used colour, form, repetition and surface to make ornament more than a purely decorative element. From the beginnings of modernism to contemporary practice, patterns and geometric structures become a means of creating order, coherence and visual stability, while also reflecting broader social and cultural histories.
Ouadahi’s presentation includes two paintings, Récit au fil du temps and Wandernde Schlieren. Across his practice, the artist investigates the built environments of contemporary urban life, transforming architectural structures, barriers and passageways into layered compositions that explore geometry, transparency and spatial perception. His paintings negotiate the tension between structure and openness, creating complex visual fields in which repetition, rhythm and pattern become central to the experience of the work.
In this context, Ouadahi’s paintings resonate with the exhibition’s exploration of ornament as both a formal language and a reflection of contemporary experience. By translating the visual structures of the urban environment into carefully constructed compositions, his work invites contemplation of the relationship between order, repetition and the spaces we inhabit.
Beautiful & Austere: The Power of Ornament will be on view at the Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, Germany, from 11 October 2026 to 14 February 2027.
