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Year 2011 - 2012
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"On
Codes, Symbols and Stockholm Syndrome"
Khaled Hafez
January 10th - January 27th 2012
On Codes, Symbols and Stockholm
Syndrome
is a painting project inspired
by the events I have lived
through in the year 2011, from
revolution to its kidnapping and
hijacking. The project’s title
evolved from my particular
interest in the work of Jean
Baudrillard * who, in his
seminal research of cultural
specificities, wrote about
“simulation” and “simulacra”. We
can look at those terms,
simplistically, as the “fake and
the authentic” in cultures. In
what he addresses as the
third order he beautifully
describes how societies identify
themselves by codes and symbols.
Baudrillard argues that in a
world where the original is
always preceded by the sign,
where the simulated copy has
superseded the original, reality
becomes a meaningless concept.
Taking this thesis as my
starting point, this project
explores notions of what is fake
and what is authentic in a
contemporary culture loaded with
codes and symbols of faith,
ideology, wealth, subjugation
and the quest for power.
Baudrillard, Jean, “For a
Critique of the Political
Economy of the Sign”. Telos
Press Ltd. 1980.
Baudrillard, Jean, “Simulacra
and Simulation (The Body, In
Theory: Histories of Cultural
Materialism”). Michigan:
University of Michigan Press,
1995.
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"Path of Hope"
Alyaa Kamel and Gamal Meleka
October 3rd-October 28th,2011
In this
exhibition we witness how two Egyptian artists
from two different generations living in Europe
express in there own way the current events in
Egypt. Alyaa Kamel a young Egyptian artist
living and exhibiting in Switzerland and Gamal
Meleka an established Egyptian painter, sculptor
living in Milan have reacted to the events of
revolution happening in their homeland in a
unique yet complementary fashion.
This interplay of the powerful events happening
in Egypt, the unbelievable changes that occurred
due the persistence of the Egyptian youth to
change and obtain freedom has emerged in a free
expression by Alyaa Kamel using quick drawings
in black and red ink to personify hope and in
her words she notes "I
re-create the beauty of what I have seen all of
these years, notably the recent strife; where
the vast spectrum of human emotions were put
centre-stage. An explosion of life: resentment,
tears, and laughter. My exhibition is an
expression of hope, hope for a better life
waiting for us".
Gamal
Meleka a renowned Egyptian painter and sculptor
living in Milan, Italy since the age of 19 have
translated Egyptian youth into sculptures
using the medium of strips of iron wires
interwoven in a free expression denoting the
force and movement of the body in a spectacular
manner that shows the ability of the artist in
using a simple medium to express a noble cause.
Apart from his numerous awards in Italy and his
participation in international shows. Gamal
Meleka is the first living Egyptian artist to
expose side by side with the renowned French
sculptor August Rodin in Hay Hell Gallery in
London in 2010. |
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"Momentum"
Marwa Adel
November 2nd-November 30th,2011
Marwa has captured the spirit of the Egyptian
youth's rebellion in stunning fashion, with a
strong emphasis on the constant and frantic
movement of the country during this critical
period through a seamless combination of graphic
design and photography. 'The Momentum' is
symbolic of unceasing action and physical
movement of the youth as well as the actual
nation-wide movement of change that swept the
country and defied the injustices of a corrupt
system. Marwa Adel’s work breathes a fresh air
over an already greatly popular subject,
depicting the events of Egypt’s revolution with
an unrestricted and unique artistic vision. Her
talent lies in the way she has used lighting and
graphic design techniques to conceal her
subject’s identities, presenting them in basic
human form but highlighting that the events of
Egypt can inspire similar events anywhere else
in the world, and that we all share one identity
as humans striving for freedom. In her own words
Marwa’s work is the discovery and revelation of
the relationship between form and essence,
spirit and materialism, image and ideas and the
metamorphosis from primitive to supreme. |
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"Metamorphosis"
Gamal Meleka
December 5th-December 31st,2011
Our exhibition titled "Metamorphosis", is by an
already highly established artist named Gamal
Meleka, an Egyptian born citizen who has spent
the majority of his exciting career in Milano,
Italy. Gamal’s unique experimentation with
material and color has gained widespread acclaim
in Italy where he is now one of the most
established contemporary artists on the scene.
Gamal’s creative process was born after years of
research, with ‘immediacy, perception and
gestures’ Gamal brings his original style to the
canvas, creating impressionistic paintings with
dynamic colors, and depicting traditional
Egyptian landmarks with a distinctly Italian
infusion, which he says is ‘a crossing of
phenomena connecting Italian and Egyptian
culture’. Gamal has become one of the first
artists to use various mixtures of resins
covered with gold leaf, a noticeable motif in
most of his works, in what he calls a ‘complete
and free artistic interpretation that is not
just decorative’ this particular aspect of his
work has since been adopted by various other
artists. A testament to Gamal’s talent is his
2010 exhibition alongside 40 sculptures of the
renowned French artists Auguste Rodin at the Hay
Hill gallery in London, the first Egyptian
artist to exhibit with him. |
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Year 2010 - 2011
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Anna Boghiguian
October 11th-October 31st,2010
“Portraits and flora are treated or worked upon
in the same manner. I took the rose as a flower
as it represents a symbol of love as well as
beauty. There are myths woven on the symbolism
of the rose. The Greeks the Egyptians spoke of
the flower in their stories of goddesses and
love.
I treated the roses in a wax acoustic technique
giving to the flower a 3 dimensional form as
well as esoteric. Candles in themselves are
objects used for devotion, as well as ambiances
of intimacy. Pigment and other substances I
mixed with the wax and painted very quickly the
painting. In some I used sand and live petals
from dried roses giving the ephemeral. And
delicate presence of the flower, the remains of
a passed time. The gardens and the people
sitting in the gardens are in acrylic, the
reason besides the scale of the work, I felt it
would be interesting to use a more conventional
method to paint the natural environment of a
garden with people either alone or in groups
relating, meditating and interacting. The social
phenomenon to interact in a garden which is
nature and man and the social norms of urban
people is an interesting theme to deal with and
relate on. Also it helped to cool off the hot
summer days”.
Anna Boghiguian |
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Katherine Bakhoum
(1949)
November 3rd-November 30th, 2010
"Rêves d’Orient"
Following a show at the Opera a big moon came
down from the sky held on earth by human beings
who seemed so little. I saw immediately an
interact with my paintings where the dervishes
are climbing on the clouds as we used to climb
in the early days on the pyramids. I painted
this moon on a canvas to renew my usual
supports. I painted others smaller where men are
roaming freely. I chose naturally to pursuit my
work on the sky and the clouds. To me they
represent the mystery of the infinity, the light
and the changing of the horizon. This new
support allowed me to renew my landscape and to
render them more mysterious sometimes in the
presence of an architectural aspect almost
unseen in the fog. I also used this linen canvas
to make human portraits of (2m x 1m). This
dimension gives a new force to these portraits
which I always loved to work on. To complete
this exhibition I made portraits with an
emphasis on the faces trying to melt the subject
in the matter to render them more transparent.
In spite of the variety of the themes I think I
found a coherent sense in this exhibition
through the technique with the color and by the
different historical inclinations which all took
me back to the Orient. |
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Souad Mardam Bey
December
2nd-December 31st, 2010
"Les Choses de la Vie"
Born in Damascus and now living in
Cairo, was exposed to many cultures
through her upbringing, education and
extensive travels. From a very early
stage in her life, painting has been her
passion and natural way of self
expression. This passion so well
expressed on her canvases, is the same
passion we feel when we look at the
portraits with those mysterious eyes and
at the silhouettes flowing in movement
or simply just sitting there. Each
painting reveals a memory or a thought.
Her collection seems to emerge from the
familiar everyday scenes and faces, yet
she always surprises us in transforming
those simple subjects into an evocative
and expressive bold composition. Her
trademark is her palette. She never
fails to add her distinct signature of
multilayered patterns and color
combinations. Each painting is a story,
each collection is but another
affirmation of her web of differing
ideas and cultures and of her perceptive
eye, which captures emotions so
vividly. |
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Mamdouh
Ammar
January
3rd-January 21st, 2011
"Works from the 60's & 70's"
Mamdouh Ammar graduated from the
Faculty of Fine Arts in 1952. He
started teaching at the same
faculty since 1959 and up until
now. Mamdouh Ammar was chosen to
go to Paris and Rome for a
special mission to study
painting and mural art. Mamdouh
Ammar is one of the greatest
contemporary Egyptian artists
who were mainly attached with
nature as a form of his
creation. And in dealing with
nature he doesn’t merely
register it but decomposes the
different elements in it and
starts maneuvering with them by
omitting and adding those which
are important for his
estheticism work. Through a
period of 40 years of creative
work Mamdouh Ammar was able to
create his own niche which is
relevant in his subject’s
realism, the expression of their
features and the using of warm
colors rich with a technical
mastery. We can summarize
Mamdouh Ammar’s experience
through five different periods.
The first period includes his
drawings from Upper Egypt where
we find present the architecture
and the men and women in their
everyday life. These were not
portrayed as is but in unique
forms and shapes combining the
architectural element and the
fluidity of expression. In the
second period, there is a
turning point in search of the
architectural aspects found in
the different elements of nature
that is apparent in Ammar’s
still life works where the
geometric element is dominant.
In his third period Mamdouh
Ammar is turning back to the
humankind and taking his example
in the circus with all its
contradictions of happiness and
sorrow that are painted on the
faces of the acrobats. In his
fourth period which is
considered to be the main one,
Ammar goes to the metaphysical
where the imagination of
surrealism is combined with the
expression. In his latest
period, Mamdouh Ammar depicts
another element of nature with a
musical form and context. |
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Ahmed Kassim
January
25th-February 16th, 2011
Artist Ahmed Kassim expresses on
canvas the heartbeat of Cairo’s
bustling streets in the real
sense of the word. Through
intricate and in detailed brush
strokes he reveals in a
sarcastic way what we have
become and what we are heading
towards as seen in those
streets. Those streets that the
more it witnesses the building
of high rise structures, the
construction of high ways and
the creation of side walks the
more and more the streets close
up and crowd on us. Therefore
what? The artist started
questioning did our population
grow more that what we own from
cars year after year? If we
continue to grow and crowd year
after year will the universe
take us? And for how long? Where
and what will become of us with
our deserts and land? At last
the artist reached a solution
which he always dreamt of; that
of the people occupying Egypt
sky on ropes extended in the
air. He believes that most of us
suffer and exchange daily
conversation on the chaos of
Cairo traffic and how it
negatively impacts on our daily
life. Therefore this congestion
performs itself in a sarcastic
theatrical way. How in 2010
people from all social levels
and residents of various alleys
districts, towns, cities and
upscale areas have decided to
live in isolation away from the
congestion. An innate trial in
the artist's mind that he did
not plan to construct nor to
conquer but it apparently
cemented itself in his
subconscious and came to live on
the canvas at the right time. |
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"To Egypt
with Love"
March
9th-April 15th, 2011
Alaa Taher - Bassem Samir - Hossam
Hassan
This exhibition is in contribution and
acknowledgment of the
miraculous revolution that
took place on the 25th
of January 2011 under the
leadership of a group of the
most promising Egyptian
youth. The youth who wanted
to change everything in the
country that was oppressing
them for 30 years in order
to let the whole nation live
equally in a healthy and
truthful environment full of
pride and hope for the
forthcoming generations. May
god bless them.
The exhibition is a
collaborative effort by
three young promising
talents that are being
introduced by Safarkhan
(some of them have never
exhibited before) .
Alaa Taher, Bassem Samir and
Hossam Hassan have
captured their own vision of
the transforming events of
the past weeks. Through
their unique art we witness
the beauty, pride and
passion of the great land of
Egypt and its honorable
people.
PROCEEDS FROM THE EXHIBITION
WILL GO TO CHARITY.
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"Multiple
Vision"
April
19th-May 13th, 2011
Alfons Louis - Marwa Adel - Sarkis
Tossonian
Safarkhan would like to
thank you for your support
and contribution to make the
charity exhibition "To Egypt
with Love" a great success.
We sincerely hope for a
better Egypt and would like
to continue that road of
rebuilding and adapting to
the new Egypt by introducing
to you the exhibition
"Multiple Vision" hope you
will come to support these
great talents.
Sarkis Tossoonian a
sculptor who excels in his
fine bronze figures
mastering the effect of
movement and different
textures. Alfons Louis goes
back to his roots by carving
on drift wood old floral and
human details from the
Coptic and Islamic era. His
compositions vary in design
and include various other
antique materials like old
nails, stones, iron, etc.
Marwa Adel, a
talented photographer uses
graphic design to the
perfection in order to
create her magnificent
compositions of the human
body in fluid movement and
intense emotional
expression.
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"Barbara
Armbruster"
May
19th-June 15th, 2011
"The Green, the Street and
the Scent of Life"
Safarkhan continues its path
of promoting international
artist who have strong ties
and appreciation to the land
of Egypt. In the month of
May Safarkhan introduces the
exhibition "The Green, the
Street and the Scent of
Life" by German born artist
Barbara Armbruster.
This is an interactive
exhibition where the viewer
experiences multiple
artistic elements including
paintings, drawings and
video art and all centring
around the theme of the
beautiful flora and fona of
Egypt through the eyes of a
passionate artist. More over
the exhibition includes a
collaborative effort between
students of the German
School in Cairo, the artist
and Safarkhan through a
project where they
experience the process of
being an active member with
the community and nature.
Barbara Armbruster’s work is
about cultural, societal
structures, spaces and
identities within our global
world.
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"To Egypt
with Love II"
July 11th - September 23rd, 2011
Alaa Taher - Bassem Samir - Hossam
Hassan
Safarkhan continues its
Gives you a glimpse of a tour done
by the camera of the three artists
who elaborated in their exhibition
about the revolution. Alaa Taher,
Basem Samir and Hossam Hassan
emphasizes on the Egyptian culture
heritage through the years by gone
and demonstrates a lovely scope of
Egyptian sights across the years
whether they are in Cairo,
Alexandria or Luxor. Egypt Again is
only a view of the attachment of
each artist to the roots and culture
of this great land of Egypt and its
legacy on us.
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Year 2009 - 2010
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Kamal Khalifa
(1926-1968)
October 7th-October 23rd,2009
Kamal Khalifa is considered Egypt’s leading
modern artist. He left the art world with
separate categories of artwork: sculpture,
paintings and black & white drawings. He
produced his sculpture in a structured
traditional way with a loose stylized form. It
was important for him that his bronze or plaster
sculpture should display flow and movement. And
it is that feeling of movement that stays with
one rather than the absolute form. While Kamal
Khalifa was a student at the Faculty of Fine
Arts and in his 4th year he quit
claiming that his studies were not adding to
him. Kamal Khalifa came from a modest
background. He lived all his life in Bab El-Louk
in one room on the roof top of an old house and
it was in this small room that he produced all
his great work and there where he died from
tuberculosis. The b&w drawings demonstrate Kamal
Khalifa’s relaxed less formal style which is not
as evident as in his full colored work. Kamal
Khalifa uses two techniques in his still life
colored paintings which focus on floral
displays. The first involves interplay of color
coupled with a flirtation with abstraction. The
second establishes a rich variety taken from the
artist’s esthetatic research in his dramatic
environment. To summarize his work we can say
that his personal suffering he expresses in his
sculpture and paintings reaches out universally. |
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Katherine Bakhoum
(1949)
October 27th-November 25th 2009
Born
in Cairo in 1949, half Egyptian and half French.
She studied at l'atelier Met de Penninghen and
l'ecole Estienne in Paris. K .Bakhoum started
exhibiting her work in Paris since 1984. She
exhibits twice a year once in Paris and once at
Safarkhan in Cairo. She has been exhibiting
yearly at Safarkhan since 1999. K.Bakhoum's
Orientalist paintings stands so powerfully with
subtle (and sometimes definite) tones of pastel
that bring to life charcters that seem to exist
only in our imagination. It is the carefully
created visions of fabric and its drapping, the
eyes that reach out to the viewer with a
captivating stare that make her paintings so
nostalgic. K.Bakhoum masters the technique of
creating different texture to alter the
visual image in her paintings. She collects
handmade paper, old fabric and uses the effect
of empty teabags. |
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Souad
Mardam Bey
December 1st-December 31st 2009
Souad Mardam Bey is an artist who lived in many
countries of the Middle East, Syrian by
nationality but studied art in Beirut and now
she is living in Cairo Egypt. Her work is unique
in the sense that she is creating her own
individuals whether man or woman child or animal
bird or fish. In all these creatures there is
the fantasy world of Souad figures of big
dimensions wearing the fanciest clothes?
Animated in colour and decoration the texture of
Souad’s work is unique whether it is in the
background or the foreground and after touring
her exhibition we wonder when and where did
these creatures live? |
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Alexandria
Alfons Louis - Said Badr - Sarkis Tossoonian
January 1st-January 27th,2010
A
group exhibition by three greatly talented
sculptors native of the seaside city of
Alexandria in Egypt. These sculptors
represents in their work the many facets of
the ancient Egyptian culture to the Greco
Roman civilization as well as the Coptic and
Islamic heritage. This will be exhibited
through various mediums from bronze by
Sarkis Tossoonian , black basalt by Said
Badr and distressed wood and engraved stone
by Alfons Louis.
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Kamal El Sarrag
February 2nd-February 25th,2010
Since the mid-1960s, Kamal El Sarrag
has been featured in a succession of
one-man shows in Cairo, Venice, and
Brussels, and he has been a frequent
participant in representative group
exhibitions. His studies have been
centered at the Faculty of fine arts
in Cairo, where he graduated in
1960, and at the Academy of fine
arts in Venice, where he graduated
in 1967. His paintings are in the
museum of the colleges of fine arts
in Cairo and Alexandria, the
Egyptian academy in Rome, and the
museum of modern art in Cairo. In
addition to pursuing his own work,
he taught painting at the college of
finr arts, Helwan University, Cairo.
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Marwa Adel
March 1st-March 24th,2010
Every once in a while, when the
audience is expecting to see one
thing, you have to show them
something else. Marwa believes
above all that she wanted to
build the palace of my memory,
because her memory is something
else; it’s her only homeland.
Marwa is a photographer and
computer graphic designer with
great ability and sensitivity in
modeling her characters and
landscapes in a majestic world
moving with shadows black and
white. She adds rhythms to her
work by employing Arabic
calligraphy or adding a spot of
luminous red to her black and
white designs. She teaches
graphic design at the faculty of
applied set in CAIRO and now she
is turning into oil to become a
painter. |
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Nadine Hammam
March 30th-April
22nd,2010
Titled, I’m For Sale,
artist Nadine Hammam
represents the female in
a series of alluring yet
subtle postures and
compelling gazes,
stating the female as an
object of desire. Her
technique of
multi-layered canvases,
executed in almost
flawless flatness,
appearing as
solid, emphasizes the
masculine gaze upon the
female: a two
dimensional view. She
transforms the object of
desire into a
representation of desire
leaving the audience
with the sole
possibility to purchase
only one layer, the
female in her most
alluring state and not
her. |
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Mostafa El
Razzaz
April 26th-May
15th,2010
I have been
observing the
Nile fishermen
for years---from
Philea to
Rashid. And from
my balcony in
Manial which
overlooks the
river. They live
in a unique
world; one that
relies solely on
the blessing of
fate itself.
Men, women and
children live
slow, gentle
rhythms in
modest fishing
skiffs that ply
the heavy waters
all day.
Unlike a
sea-fisherman, a
river fisherman
(and often it is
an independent
fisherwoman
rather than a
man) doesn’t
leave the
confines of the
small narrow
boat. He and/or
she lives and
works on the
boat.
Grows up and
marries there.
It is where
children are
born. An entire
social life is
centered on the
boat; friends
crowd-in for
celebrations or
drop by for a
glass of
sweetened tea.
It is a hard but
mystical life
with a serenity
that is seldom
found on the
river-banks
where their
boats come to
rest when the
dark night
falls. This art
work is
dedicated to the
fishermen and
women of the
Nile. |
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Mennah Hafez
May 17th-June 5th,2010
"The Joys of the Mystics"
In the heart of the mystic is another world. The
pure heart can see forms and colors that the
unpolished heart can not imagine. The world of
forms is not it, there is so much more inside
the heart of the lover. Day and night I see
colors and because I set my heart free I have
found another world. With more beauty and more
grace and more light. In the midst of the
troubles I saw beauty and in nature I found a
language. It is the world of the spiritual, of
the free, of the joyful. A Sufi's heart is so
similar to the heart of the Buddhist, the yogi
and the mystic from any religion or just the
lover of the universe. The only difference is
that the Sufi lives in a trance in love with the
divine and sees everything with an impartial
eye. |
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The Collection
July 8th-Septemper 30th,2010
Showing in the months of July, August and
September is a retrospective of a collection of
modern and contemporary Egyptian artists
representing different generations from the
1960’s till 2010.
Kamal
Khalifa the
avant
garde of post
expressionism with his modern portraits and
sculptures of the 1960’s.
Kamal El
Sarrag gives us a
musical variation of contemporary calligraphy
concentrating on the letter “S”.
Sarkis
Tossoonian
sculptures evoke a sense of elegance, grace and
texture in his bronze sculptures.
Alfons Louis
delights us with his meticulously engraved
wooden and granite shapes evoking figures and
items from the past. Sculptor Said
Badr deals with the
subject of cities and histories through
tirlously engraving on basalt writings derived
from the Rosseta
stone, hieroglyphs and Coptic
languages. The young
upcoming Marwa Adel
photography and computer graphic designs gives
us a blending of calligraphy and humans
resulting in a unique and strong composition.
Mostafa El
Razzaz’s work
enchants us with his emphasis on the symbiotic
relation between the fisherman and the Nile
using mythical philosophy.
Katherine Bakhoum
pastels evokes a sense of nostalgia while
mastering the use of colors and
motifes.
Soad
Mardam
Bey gives us bold
portraits with strong features and texture that
evoke age while playing carefully with colors
and letters. The promising Nadine
Hammam modern
painting of human figures outlined in thousands
of tiny Swarovski
diamonds and tireless multi layered canvases is
a proof for the coming generation of modern art
in Egypt. Mennah
Hafez’s spontaneous mixed
media canvases explores “The Joys of the
Mystics” in bold red and green colors and strong
brush strokes. |
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Year 2008 - 2009
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Mohamed Ismail
(1936-1993)
October 13th-November 4th,2008
Dr.
Mohamed Ismail was born in 1936 in Zagazig in
Egypt. He graduated and obtained his Masters in
painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo.
He received his Ph.D. in the history of Fine
Arts. He held numerous private and collective
exhibitions from 1958 – 1969. Dr M.Ismail
started his globe trotting from 1969 till 1987.
He started with Europe visiting Greece, Spain
and France going to North Africa and then to
Turkey in the Near East. He moved on to Beirut,
Kuwait, Iran and India before breaking camp to
his favorite continent the Far East. In Tokyo he
knew love and considered it home. He has many
acquisitions in several countries and the most
important is in Museum of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. He obtained many International and
Arab prizes. |
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Katherine Bakhoum
(1949)
November 10th-November 28th 2008
Born
in Cairo in 1949, half Egyptian and half French.
She studied at l'atelier Met de Penninghen and
l'ecole Estienne in Paris. K .Bakhoum started
exhibiting her work in Paris since 1984. She
exhibits twice a year once in Paris and once at
Safarkhan in Cairo. She has been exhibiting
yearly at Safarkhan since 1999. K.Bakhoum's
Orientalist paintings stands so powerfully with
subtle (and sometimes definite) tones of pastel
that bring to life charcters that seem to exist
only in our imagination. It is the carefully
created visions of fabric and its drapping, the
eyes that reach out to the viewer with a
captivating stare that make her paintings so
nostalgic. K.Bakhoum masters the technique of
creating different texture to alter the
visual image in her paintings. She collects
handmade paper, old fabric and uses the effect
of empty teabags. |
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Souad Mardam Bey
December 2nd-December 31st,2008
Souad Mardam Bey is an artist who lived
in many countries of the Middle East,
Syrian by nationality but studied art in
Beirut and now she is living in Cairo
Egypt. Her work is unique in the sense
that she is creating her own individuals
whether man or woman child or animal
bird or fish. In all these creatures
there is the fantasy world of Souad
figures of big dimensions wearing the
fanciest clothes animated in colour and
decoration the texture of Souad’s work
is unique whether it is in the
background or the foreground and after
touring her exhibition we wonder when
and where did these creatures live? |
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Sarkis Tossoonian
(1953)
January 5th-January 30th,2009
Sarkis Tossoonian was born in
Alexandria in 1953. He graduated
from the Faculty of Fine
Arts/Sculpture in 1979. He
started exhibiting in individual
and group exhibitions in
Alexandria since 1980 and up
until now. Sarkis Tossoonian won
the second prize in Sculpture in
the 5th Biennale of Port Said in
2001. Sarkis Tossoonian excels
in blending two different
mediums in his works like non
shiny bronze with shiny golden
brass. His figures stand for
both male and female dressed
elegantly and representing
mostly noble graceful figures. |
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Nazli Madkour
(1949)
February 3rd-February
27th,2009
Nazli Madkour … Born in
Cairo, in 1949 where she
lives and works.
Received her Masters
Degree in Political
Economy from the
American University in
Cairo. In 1981 she
resigned her post of
Economic Expert at the
Industrial Development
Centre for Arab States
(Arab League, Cairo) to
concentrate on art. |
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Ihab Shaker
(1933)
March 2nd-March
23rd,2009
Ihab shaker born
in 1933 received
his first lesson
in art when he
was a still a
boy with the
Italian
professor Carlo
Mlinoti,
then joined the
Leonardo Da
Vince school and
later graduated
from the faculty
of plastic arts
in 1957. He
began his work
in the press in
1953 when he was
still in the
first year of
his academic
studies. Shaker
started his work
with the late
prominent Abdel
Salam El Sherif
in El Goumhuria
from 1960 he
joined Rose El
Youssef since
1956 he was
a prominent
figure in Sabah
El kheir. From
1970 t0 2002 his
participation in
the world of art
was mostly
distinguished
where he gave 8
one man show in
Japan ,Vienna
,in Ekhnatoun
gallery ,in
Paris, Cairo
,Spain and
Jordan. Beside
the world of art
shaker
specialized in
animation when
he represented
France in four
festivals. To
understand the
art of Ihab
Shaker in his
Exhibition let
us read some
lines written
years ago by the
late art critic
Dr. Farouk
Bassiouni in
Akhbar El Adab :
the images Ihab
creates bend and
intersect in a
whimsical
rebellion. |
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Anna
Boghiguian
(1946)
March
30th-April
25th,2009
Anna
Boghigiuan
was born
in Cairo
in 1946
to
Armenian/Egyptian
parents.
She
graduated
in 1969
from the
American
University
in Cairo
in
Economics
and
Political
Science.
She
studied
art
under
the
patronage
of the
great
artist
Fouad
Kamel.
Anna
Boghigiuan
obtained
her BFA
in
visual
art and
music
from
Concordia
University
in
Montreal,
Canada.
She held
exhibitions
in
Egypt,
Yemen,
Greece,
Canada
and
France
and has
illustrated
many
books
including
editions
of
Ungaretti,
Cavafy
and for
the
Nobel
laureate
Naguib
Mahfouz.
Anna
Boghigiuan
is a
very
renowned
contemporary
Egyptian
painter
whose
work is
extremely
appreciated
among
the
foreign
and
local
community.
Her
capturing
the
essence
of a
city as
vibrant
and
chaotic
as Cairo
is a
daunting
task for
any
painter.
It
requires
a deep
understanding
of its
soul as
well as
a sharp
eye to
pick up
on the
continuous
metamorphosis
of
movement
against
a
background
that is
both
timeless
and
undergoing
constant
renewal.
Her
depictions
of
bridges,
buildings
and
other
architectural
sites we
see them
squeezed
or
elongated
because
she is a
master
of
deconstruction
loved by
architects
for her
intrinsic
understanding
of form
and
structure. |
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The Beginning
April 29th-May 13th,2009
Amina El Demirdash - Mennah Hafez - Rony El Kady
A group exhibition by three young artists - recent graduates of the American University in Cairo - The beginning and Discovery of a new generation having one theme in common how to express their love of Egypt and taking into consideration the difference between everyone of them. Mennah using all kinds of collage and calligraphy in a very substantial and impressive way to show the beauty and the negligence of what's taking place in her country ...Amina extremely indulged in the expression the density of the houses and the population together. Rony is extremely taken by the human expression of men and women using her own unique technique of shadow and light and adding lots of material to enhance the texture and feel of her subjects. |
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Marwa Adel
May 18th-May 31st,2009
Every once in a while, when the audience is expecting to see one thing, you have to show them something else. Marwa believes above all that she wanted to build the palace of my memory, because her memory is something else; it’s her only homeland. Marwa is a photographer and computer graphic designer with great ability and sensitivity in modeling her characters and landscapes in a majestic world moving with shadows black and white. She adds rhythms to her work by employing Arabic calligraphy or adding a spot of luminous red to her black and white designs. She teaches graphic design at the faculty of applied set in CAIRO and now she is turning into oil to become a painter. |
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Year 2007 - 2008
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Dr.
Mohamed Ismail
(1936-1993)
October
22 - November 10, 2007
Dr. Mohamed Ismail was born in 1936 in Zagazig
in Egypt. He graduated and obtained his Masters
in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts in
Cairo. He received his Ph.D. in the History of
Fine Arts. He held numerous private and
collective exhibitions from 1958 – 1969. Dr.
Ismail started his globe trotting in 1969. He
started with Europe visiting Greece, Spain and
France going to North Africa and then to Turkey
in the Near East. He moved on to Beirut, Kuwait,
Iran and India before breaking camp to his
favorite continent: the Far East. In Tokyo he
knew love and considered it home. He has many
acquisitions in several countries and the most
important is in the Museum of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. He obtained many International and
Arab prizes. |
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Zakaria El Zeini
(1932-1993)
November
13th - December 5th 2007
Zakaria El-Zeini was raised in the
suburban areas of Cairo and graduated
from the Faculty of Fine Arts. He
studied painting in Venice and graduated
from the Academy of Pravana. Later he
became a professor at the FFA and ended
his career as head of the painting
department. El-Zeiny is known to be an
expressionistic artist using different
symbols in his work and passing by
several periods. The first period is the
"Moulid" and the "El-Zar". His work has
always been distinguished for having the
human being (face or complete body)
enclosed in a geometric shape of a
square or a rectangle. Despite this
rigid, enclosed portrayal, the viewer
still feels the sympathy that the
painter feels toward the human being
living in a space in the form of a
house, a door or a window. And it was
through the "Moulid" and the "Zar" that
Zeini was able to enrich his imagination
and find refuge in it, thus transmitting
to us his message. In some early works
when he featured women enclosed by bars,
windows or doors. |
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Souad Mardam Bey
December
7th - December 31st 2007
Souad Mardam Bey is an artist who lived
in many countries of the Middle East,
Syrian by nationality but studied art in
Beirut and now she is living in Cairo
Egypt. Her work is unique in the sense
that she is creating her own individuals
whether man or woman child or animal
bird or fish. In all these creatures
there is the fantasy world of Souad
figures of big dimensions wearing the
fanciest clothes animated in colour and
decoration the texture of Souad’s work
is unique whether it is in the
background or the foreground and after
touring her exhibition we wonder when
and where did these creatures live? |
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Cherif Sobhi
(1932)
January 10th - January 25th 2008
Following the success of his first show in 1960,
Sherif Sobhi has become a contributor to oneman
& group exhibitions in Egypt ,England ,France
.Italy and the United State .He has long been
associated with La Barcaccia gallery in Rome,
where he has been a resident since 1957,
but he has also contributed to numerous
independently organized international
exhibitions. His paintings belong to museum and
private collections in Egypt, Italy, and the
United States. Cherif Sobhi is interested both
in the figurative and textural dimensions of
painting. In pursuing the latter he develops a
rich surface on a wooden panel, a surface whose
texture is further accented be the application
of concentrated layers of varnish. This involved
and unique technical approach aligns his work
with that of contemporary Italian painters, but
his selection of colors –vermillion, cobalt
blue, azure green, and golden sepia, all of
which are set against dark grounds – reveal his
affinities to the iconic heritage of Egyptian
art. A time-less presence pervades the
still-life,
landscapes, and figural studies which comprise
his subjects. Their arrangement yields mythic or
narrative overtones. |
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Sarkis Tossoonian
(1953)
January 28th -
February 16th, 2008
Sarkis Tossoonian was born in Alexandria in
1953. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine
Arts/Sculpture in 1979. He started exhibiting in
individual and group exhibitions in Alexandria
since 1980 and up until now. Sarkis Tossoonian
won the second prize in Sculpture in the 5th
Biennale of Port Said in 2001. Sarkis Tossoonian
excels in blending two different mediums in his
works like non shiny bronze with shiny golden
brass. His figures stand for both male and
female dressed elegantly and representing mostly
noble graceful figures |
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Nagi Bassilious
(1949)
February 18th
- March 3rd, 2008
Born in 12 December 1949, Cairo, Egypt.
Freelance Artist,Education: High
institute of Leonardo da Vinci, 1973:
BA, Postgraduate Diploma,
painting1983-86. Honors: Fine Arts
association awards 1976, Decorated,
Ministry of Culture 1979. In the work of
Nagi Basilious we can distinct very
clearly his love and affection for old
popular areas where it is the people of
these areas of children and woman or the
fact of old buildings that stands out.
From the old buildings we see how he
excels in portraying doors and walls and
other details. As for the sceneries of
the city of the dead Nagi Basilious
portrayed them with such an affectionate
eye that the tombs and the tiny streets
seem rhythmic with the trees and
greenery that exits between them. It is
a serene and moving picture that affects
our soul and enriches our eyes.
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Hannah Stevenson
March 6th - March 27th, 2008
1983-1987: Edinburgh School of Art, Scotland.
Studied and worked with Mark and Charrlotte
Cheverton, founders of Leith School of Art.
1988-1991: Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
Commission by Northern Electric Company to
detail and memorize the Swan Hunter Shipyard on
the Tyne before destruction.
1991-1995: Brussels, Belgium. Projects for
Cathedral over three year’s, period using
aluminum and steel.
1995-1997: Istanbul, Turkey. Commissioned by
Europe's largest textile agency, L F sourcing.
Produced aluminum for office using the backdrop
of ancient buildings, mosques and streets as the
project.
1997-2001: Moscow, Russia. Studied Russian
Constructivism under Andrei Sakharov. Member of
Union of Artists. Studio work at the British
Embassy Moscow. One man show at the Norman
Foster Building for the new British Embassy
Moscow. Worked on a series called study of
Magnitogorsk. The Enlightenment Dream in
Siberia, Magnitogorsk. Industrial scenes of the
steel plant and its environment on aluminum.
2001-Recent: Cairo, Egypt. Exhibitions at:
-Safarkhan, Zamalek.
Expo ArtAl Moudira Palace, Luxor.
Commissions for International Businesses in
Europe and the Middle East. Working on a two
years project on the Mahmal. |
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Ahmad Hamid
March 31st - April19th, 2008
The exhibit aims at rooting Architecture & Design
Culture in society as any kind of commodity is, this
time with much more relevance to the
artistic-socioeconomic life line of a place. It applies
the quick readymade to the young and wide base
public, and also the Haute design for exclusive and
exquisite ends of the market. The exhibit exploits both
the industrial and the hand made the past and present
tempos and motifs. It is about simultaneity -
not androgynous or hermaphroditic but with a yin-yang,
anima/animus respect to both the masculine and the
feminine in Design, Emotion & Function, Movement &
Repose, the Populist & the Sophisticated, the Intellect
& the Passions. It is an attempt at Synthesis but with a
twist of visual seductively not a cold distant aesthetic
pretending soberness. It is not eclectic but is
inclusive though still spare, certain strength from the
interrelatedness and multilayer of its design process.
Stark and pristinely present, the artistic renderings of
the designs exhibited radiate from within luminosity and
a primordial instinctive untainted purity that borders
on the humorous. For I wish every visitor/onlooker to my
visuals and objects, to bear a smile, at least while in
the show and even maybe later with a slight subtle
aftertaste. |
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Anna Boghigiuan
(1946)
April 23rd-May 23rd,2008
Anna
Boghigiuan was born in Cairo in 1946 to
Armenian/Egyptian parents. She graduated in 1969
from the American University in Cairo in
Economics and Political Science. She studied art
under the patronage of the great artist Fouad
Kamel. Anna Boghigiuan obtained her BFA in
visual art and music from Concordia University
in Montreal, Canada. She held exhibitions in
Egypt, Yemen, Greece, Canada and France and has
illustrated many books including editions of
Ungaretti, Cavafy and for the Nobel laureate
Naguib Mahfouz.Anna Boghigiuan is a very
renowned contemporary Egyptian painter whose
work is extremely appreciated among the foreign
and local community.Her capturing the essence of
a city as vibrant and chaotic as Cairo is a
daunting task for any painter. It requires a
deep understanding of its soul as well as a
sharp eye to pick up on the continuous
metamorphosis of movement against a background
that is both timeless and undergoing constant
renewal. |
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Year 2006 -
2007
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Ketty Abdel-Malek
"MOSAICS"
October 31 -
November 14, 2006
Besides her
passion for the Arts Ketty Abdel Malek graduated with a
Bachelor in French Literature. She started taking
courses and studying Mosaics in Ravennes in 1982 and in
Rome in 1984. She kept practicing and mastering the
technique and the application of this ancient form of
Byzantine art until she was ready to launch her first
exhibition in 1988 in Cairo which included mosaics,
paintings and sculpture. K.A. Malek exhibited also in
Rome, in Ravennes and in London.Ketty is not easily
convinced with her production and she frequently rebels
to find a new application and technique to her work. She
is also perseveres and persists with such stubbornness
when she deals with cutting and shaping of such
difficult materials like the marbles, glass and wood. |
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Ihab Shaker
(1933)
November 17 -
December 9, 2006
A
juxtaposition of contradictions, illustrating the
contrast between local themes and modern approach,
between childlike spontaneity and reasoned control,
between realistic vision and surrealistic whims, between
authentic embodiment and convoluted simplification
bordering on the abstract, between mocking exaggeration
and contemplative perception. |
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Zakaria
El Zeini
(1932 -1993)
December 12
- January 5, 2007
Zakaria
El-Zeiny was raised in the suburban areas of Cairo and
graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts. He studied
painting in Venice and graduated from the Academy of
Pravana. Later he became a professor at the FFA and
ended his career as head of the painting
department.El-Zeiny is known to be an expressionistic
artist using different symbols in his work and passing
by several periods. The first period is the "Moulid" and
the "El-Zar". His work has always been distinguished for
having the human being (face or complete body) enclosed
in a geometric shape of a square or a rectangle. Despite
this rigid, enclosed portrayal, the viewer still feels
the sympathy that the painter feels toward the human
being living in a space in the form of a house, a door
or a window. |
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Omar
El-Nagdi
(1931)
January
9 - February
2, 2007
Omar El-Nagdi was born in Cairo in 1931 and studied
at the Faculty of Fine Arts. He participated in many
exhibitions and Biennales in Egypt, Europe and the the
former Soviet Union. Winner of several prizes, his
paintings were acquired by museums and renowned
institutions throughout the world.El-Nagdi
is an Egyptian symbolist and magician of color. His
paintings are sufficient proof of his exceptional gifts
for symbolic design and the splendid use of color.
Through his expressive textures, colors and symbolic
elements, his paintings offer serious communication that
is deeply felt. He translates Egyptian life into
timeless symbolism that goes beyond mere decoration to
discover a mixture of humanist and mystic sensibilities. |
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Anna
Boghigiuan
April 2 - April 27, 2007
Born in
Cairo in 1946 to Armenian and Egyptian parents,
Boghiguian graduated in 1969 from the American
University in Cairo. Although she majored in economics
and political science she shifted gears and studied art
under the tutelage of the great artist Fouad Kamel.
Boghigiuan went on to obtain her BFA in visual art and
music from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.
Boghigiuan has become a renowned contemporary Egyptian
painter whose work has appealed to both foreign and
local audiences. She has held numerous exhibitions in
Egypt, Yemen, Greece, Canada and France and has
illustrated many books including editions of Ungaretti,
Cavafy and for the Nobel Laureate, Naguib Mahfouz. |
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Katherine Bakhoum
(1949)
February 6 - March 6,
2007
Born in
Cairo in 1949, half Egyptian and half French. She
studied at l'atelier Met de Penninghen and L'Ecole
Estienne in Paris. Bakhoum started exhibiting her work
in Paris in 1984. She exhibits twice a year, once in
Paris and once at Safarkhan in Cairo. She has been
exhibiting yearly at Safarkhan since 1999. Bakhoum's
Orientalist paintings stand powerfully with subtle (and
sometimes definite) tones of pastel that bring to life
charcters that seem to exist only in our imagination.
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Nazli Madkour
(1949)
March 8 - March 29, 2007
Nazli
Madkour's exhibition will be inaugurated on the 8th of
March 2007 at Safar Khan Gallery, Zamalek. The
exhibition will continue daily from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
and from 6 to 9 p.m. until the 29th of March 2007.
It will be the 32nd personal show for the artist who
will be exhibiting around forty mixed media paintings.
The works of Nazli Madkour represent an inner world.
Inner visions of landscapes inspired by the desert and
rural areas in Egypt and the inner world of women
revealed though a series of faces. Nazli Madkour was
born in Cairo , where she lives and works; she has a
Masters Degree in Political Economy from the American
University in Cairo, and has followed art studies both
in Cairo and Florence. Since 1982 she has had numerous
personal and collective exhibitions that showed her
works in Egypt as well as in Germany, France, Italy,
Portugal, UK, Holland, Greece, Lebanon, Sharjah, Bahrein,
Kuwait , Japan, China, USA and Canada. She is the author
of the book "Women and Art in Egypt" (in Arabic, 1989 -
in English, 1993) |
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Rana Chalabi
May 1 - May 22, 2007
The two main
themes of dancing and the watercolors of Cairo in Rana
Chalabi's exhibit paradoxically share the theme of the
static and the dynamic. In the male and female dancers
it is the challenge of capturing the ephemeral nature of
three dimensional dynamic movement through the static
medium of paper, oil, gold leaf, and colored inks. The
movement of line and color, the interplay of diaphonous
veil, and solid limbs, the highlights of gold within the
fields of reds and blues, oranges and yellows make the
dance come alive. In the Cairo watercolors,
paradoxically, the static subject comes alive through
the movement of the shades of color, the interplay of
light and shade, and the subtle nature of watercolor
depiciting the solid nature of Cairene monuments and
life. Movement is life, and viewers of the exhibit will
be able to resonate with that movement |
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