Rachid Hanbali was born in 1970 in Sidi Ifni, Morocco. He attended the School of Fine Arts in Tétouan, Morocco, and the University of Fine Arts, Granada, Spain. He regards Spain as his second home, having spent almost half his life on the Iberian Peninsula. He has held collective and individual exhibitions in a number of countries including the UK, the USA, Canada, Spain, Morocco and China, and in 2009, at Beijing's International Festival of Contemporary Art he recieved the Creativity Award from the Ministry of Culture of China for his painting 'Moroccan Horsemen Galloping'. At the end of 2014 he was honoured to be selected by the prestigious Royal Institute of Oil Painters in London to participate in their Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in Central London. He currently lives and works in Nerja, Andalusia, Spain in a country house which he shares with his English partner, Helen, painting 'au plein air' and taking inspiration from the natural beauty which surrounds him. He enjoys extended breaks at his villa in Brazil and spends a great part of each year at home in London. Hanbali’s paintings often refer to Morocco’s landscapes and its people. In his atmospheric depictions he retains light and colour, expressing an emotional response to the subject and his inner world. http://www.rachidhanbaliartgallery.co.uk/