Canvas magazine:

This exhibition features seven paintings illustrating Alaa Lotfy's visit to his sister's family. The acrylic on canvas and paper works shed light on some of the humorous events that occurred during his visit. Married to a Turkish man, his sister's family have many habits and traditions that are foreign to the artist, which is what inspired him to create these works. His Cherry Tree work, for example, depicts the moment when Lotfy and his sister's family drove to the countryside and saw cherry trees, and started tasting its fruits right then and there.

Canvas magazine:

This exhibition centres on the country of Greece, viewed through the eyes of an Egyptian. Inspired by his first trip there (his very first voyage outside Egypt), Ayman Hamed, who is a member of the Egyptian Society of Critics of the Arts and the Cairo International Film Festival, depicts the similarities between both cultures and people through his works on show. Having had a close friend from Greece while growing up, the artist has always had a deep infatuation and affinity for this particular country and its cultural heritage.

Al-Ahram weekly:

The Greek side of the mind

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The allure of ancient Greece, like its gods, is immortal. Now the civilisation has been revived by Ayman Hamed in his recent exhibition "On the Greek Side of My Mind".

A graduate of the graphics department at the College of Fine Arts, Hamed is an artist who says his calling is art in all its forms. He is also an art critic, writing regularly for local and regional publications including Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Al-Qahira, Al-Thaqafa Al-Gadida, Adab wa Naqd, Ibdaa, Prism and Al-Badil. He is also co-founder of Al-Khayal, an arts magazine published by the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces. In the course of his prolific career Hamed has produced comic strips, illustrations, and animation films.

"I am not the only one who likes variety and change," he says. "Take the example of Omar al-Nagdi. Or consider the case of Salah Jahine, who was a caricaturist, song writer, and script writer. Art in an exciting journey and the only way to learn is to try."

With "On the Greek Side of My Mind" Hamed ventures into the distant past, invoking the times of Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. This is in wild contrast to his very modern art materials. Even with them he does something quite new: he dilutes acrylics into subdued hues of a dreamy quality. "I was able to thin the colours into a translucent state similar to watercolour, which can give you a romantic and elegant effect. Although acrylics can also be thick and crude if that is what you're going for," he says.

Watercolours are his usual media, but he points out that they require immense skill since there is no chance of going back and making corrections. "Watercolours are like a live relay. Once you say something on air you cannot take it back. Oil is more forgiving. You can paint over any colour, even black."

Hamed's passion for Greece began in childhood. A Greek family lived near his family home, and their son, Yorgho, was his best friend. "We used to live in Matariya, not far from the house of the poet Ahmad Shawqi with its Andalucian-inspired architecture. Back then Matariya was a very elegant neighbourhood, which it no longer is. Yorgho was a very active boy and he had a great impact on my life. He was an inventor and innovator, and fearless too. He would do things that I wouldn't dream of doing, shy as I was. He would whistle at girls in the street and chase after horse-drawn carriages. When his father died 35 years ago, Yorgho and his mother went back to Athens."

Hamed grew up in a house filled with books. "We had bookcases all over the house, and I once found a big volume called The Mythology of Love and Beauty among the Greeks by Dreini Khashaba. I loved the myths it contained, and I was mesmerised by the ancient deities, so human-like and fallible."

In this book Hamed read about Lydia, the beautiful maiden who was bathing in the lake when Zeus fell in love with her. To seduce, her, the mighty deity turned himself into a swan. It is a myth that had captured the imagination of many artists, Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Salvador Dali included.

"I also read about Phaedra, Electra and Oedipus, all of whom have inspired playwrights and painters, sculptors and choreographers," Hamed says.

Greece was the first foreign country Hamed travelled to. He was still a college student, and being in Greece was a dream come true. "It was like walking into an enchanted world. I used to stand for hours in front of the monuments. The reality was different from anything I imagined. The shops closed at 8 pm and then the nightlife would start, with music and dancing and fun in the street-side taverns."

During his graduate work Hamed met Professor Ahmad Badawi, then dean of the Higher Institute for Art Criticism. Badawi was well-versed in Greek literature and encouraged Hamed to pursue Greek philosophy and art in a systematic fashion.

Hamed believes that part of the calling of art is to recreate history and comment on it. "We cannot learn anything new unless we examine human legacy, not in an escapist way but in an attempt to understand our own lives," he says.

If we achieved true enlightenment we would be more tolerant toward others. "There is nothing wrong in holding on to one's culture, religion, or politics, so long as one doesn't denigrate the beliefs of others. We're not alone in this world."

His paintings, executed in soft colours, have the brooding quality of withered glory, the enchanting dreaminess of ancient mythology. The conquests of Alexander the Great are invoked in shades of blue, the colour of the Mediterranean. The haunting faces of beautiful maidens, hair braided in the traditional Greek manner, gaze back at the viewers from the depth of fantastical surroundings.

"I try to convey the splendour of the Greek civilisation, the awesomeness of temples perched on top of mountains and the splendid intricacy of Corinthian columns," Hamed says.

He uses rice paper in his work to accentuate the sensuality of a disappearing past. His paintings, such as that of a semicircular Greek theatre, conjour the age of parchment and the wondrous musings of the ancient poets.

Then comes modern Greece, with its boisterous colours and chaotic energy, to offer a counterpoint to the mythological paraphernalia of its past. In his work Hamed summons the legends of the wars, battles and love songs of many centuries ago. His painting of Aphrodite, with her intriguing gaze and languorous posture, has the same quality of purity that Greek artists were determined to pursue.

One memorable piece, painted in acrylic, is of a scene at the bottom of the sea, an escapade that delves into the invisible world of deities and demons. "I am a Pisces and that's why I love the water. Pisces people like to dream, to look at the moon. I cannot be a warrior, but I can be a poet or a musician."

In his depiction of the underwater world Hamed paints intriguing rocks, their surfaces resembling human faces. "I always leave some room for interpretation for the viewer. I don't like finality and its limitations. I prefer to let the viewers ponder what they see."

The empty space in painting can be just as haunting as a moment of silence on stage. "I respect the void. Stillness sharpens the mind. When an actor pauses on stage he commands the full attention of the audience. They want to know what happens next."

The ancient Greeks idolised perfection. Artists did not paint reality as it was, but improved on it until it matched their ideals. There was once a Greek artist, Hamed says, who liked to do caricatures, bending shapes out of all proportion. He was hated and eventually punished because he was seen as an enemy of perfection. In reality the ratio of the head to the human body is one to seven, but in Greek sculpture the ratio is often changed into one to seven and a half, a more appealing proportion than that of the average human body.

One of the most enchanting of Hamed's paintings is The Scribbles, which is inspired by ancient writing on desert stones in Arabia. Hundreds of years before Islam caravans would crisscross the desert following their trade routes, and sometimes they would stop and rest. If the resting point was near a rock they were tempted to leave their mark on it, a kind of ancient graffiti. These engravings can no longer be read, and that is why they are often referred to as "scribbles".

In his painting of the Olympians, Hamed depicts a girl running and handing over a torch to another girl who is about to enter in the race. In his paintings we see compositions inspired by the ancient world and its familiar motifs, the temples, the armies, the fleets.

Greek art reminds Hamed of Egyptian art, except when it comes to size. The Egyptian civilisation portrayed things as much bigger. "If you consider the size of Egyptian monuments you'll find that they are much bigger than the ones in Greece," he says.

This exhibition is the product of years of thinking and dreaming about ancient Greece. "Over time, I would make sketches about Greek themes and set them aside. I would read books and take notes. When it was time to paint, I took out all of these sketches and notes and spread them in front of me. I played Greek music in the background. And the result is what you see."

The exhibition runs until 31 November at Nashwa Art Store.

 

"بهجورى" يشارك فى معرض جماعى بمرسم القاهرة الجديد

السبت، 25 سبتمبر 2010 - 13:39

كتبت هدى زكريا - اليوم السابع

تفتتح قاعة "مرسم القاهرة الجديد" معرضا جماعيا بعنوان "تحية من مصر" لأربعة من أعمدة الفن التشكيلى وهم الفنان جورج البهجورى، الفنان عادل ثابت، والفنان عبد الرحيم شاهين، والفنان عماد أبو زيد، وذلك يوم السبت الموافق 2 أكتوبر المقبل فى السابعة مساء بمقر القاعة بمنطقة القطامية.

يقدم الفنانون خلال المعرض عددا من اللوحات الفنية التى تبرز البيئة المصرية والتغيرات التى طرأت عليها بالإضافة إلى لوحات لأهم المناظر الطبيعية ، ويشارك فى المعرض الفنان أيمن حامد كضيف شرف ويقدم عدة صور عن نهر النيل، ويستمر المعرض حتى الثامن والعشرين من أكتوبر.

القشة التى روت قصة الزعيم.. «راوية» مترجمة وتشكيلية قررت تحكى تاريخ سعد زغلول بالصور

الجمعة، 23 أبريل 2010 - 00:45

رانيا فزاع - اليوم السابع

Al-Moheet

مرسم القاهرة الجديدة رشح أعمال ستة عشر فنانا وفنانة من بينهم: أحمد يحيى, نشوى عبد الفتاح, محمد شومان, حليم حبشي, هند الفلافلي, هالة طوبار, جورج البهجوري, علاء لطفي.
استخدم احمد يحيي الحديد الخردة في تشكيل أعماله التي عبرت عن إحساسه بالموسيقيين, وجاء اللون في بورتريهات علاء لطفي واضحا وصريحا, كما شاهدنا بورترية أم كلثوم الذي عبر عنه جورج البهجوري برؤية جديدة, أما حليم حبشي فقد رسم بائعة الجبن جالسة تترك وعاء الجبن أمامها منتظرة بيعة.

Al Ahram weekly

Blood ties

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Jenan and Ahmed at work

In some families, both parents and children show the same creative inclinations, giving rise to generations of artists bearing the same name. Alaa Lotfi is a case in point. "My son loves art. For him it's a way of expressing himself, not simply a pastime or something to imitate." After watching a movie, the six- year-old Ahmed would sketch out the scenes that affected him the most. Both Alaa and his wife Nashwa are painters, and he noticed that when they stop, Ahmed stops too. "It's like some form of collective inspiration is driving us." Ahmed is lucky because of his mother's job, too. As an art teacher it is her duty to discover a natural inclination for drawing and encourage it. "It's a mixture of motor skills and imagination," she explains. "A child who can paint has both the imagination and the muscle control required to give it form." At kindergarten Ahmed already could draw a circle, a triangle, a square. What he has learned since is to develop images into a story. "He can produce a certain colour balance," Nashwa says, "without guidance."

Alaa says Ahmed is in love with art: he would rather paint than play any game, given the chance. "It's a second language of his, because he's the only one who can explain his drawings. I don't intend to force him to turn his hobby into a career but I will certainly pass onto him all the tools and the knowledge that I have." Nashwa first noticed Ahmed's talent when he started playing with toy cars. "He would try to draw the cars and show how they move on paper, the first stage of his artistic development. Once he was allowed to use a brush, he began exploring motion and speed with much more focus. Of course it helped to have all the necessary materials at hand, but we also started to guide him, showing him that motion could be conveyed in a way other than drawing concentric wheels, for example. But we would always do it on a separate piece of paper." Ahmed had just contributed The Sea, signed Sonic, to a collective exhibition. "I signed with the name Sonic because it is strange sounding. In The Sea, you find people sitting under a pergola, playing with a ball, and going out to swim. I painted the sea so I could remember it until we went there again. Papa and Mama help me, it's true, but I'm the one who made this whole painting."

Indeed he is so wilful Nashwa refers to him as a dictator. "Sometimes he asks me how to draw a certain thing, then he goes ahead and draws what he feels like anyway." Ahmed has left his mark, literally, on every wall in the house, especially during his mask phase, when he painted nothing but masks. "He believed he could protect the house by drawing masks," Alaa explains. "He did one on the entrance and went on to do others so that if a guest escaped one mask, another got him, just as it happens in the cartoons. He also understands that painting on walls is more durable which reflects an instinct for survival and sense of belonging." It was Nashwa who, having let him paint on the walls for a while, eventually persuaded him to see the advantages of paper. "He came around." But it was necessary to let him have his way because, to discover a child's talent, a certain amount of freedom is required. "The child should have his own corner in the house for his things: toys, paper and paints, musical instruments. Then you should wait and see which he goes for. We mustn't take a child's playing lightly. Give him everything you can, and never make fun of anything he does. What a child does is serious and valuable. It's vital to respect a child's mentality and his work. Give him a variety of tools and let him choose."

Indeed Ahmed has even inspired Alaa. "I created a cartoon character modelled on Ahmed. I called it Dudu, a small, kind boy who keeps getting into trouble and making trouble for others without realising it. There is also a character called Super Dudu, a kind of a superhero who can do impossible things." Nashwa explains that children are fascinated by superheroes. "The idea of someone able to do what ordinary mortals cannot fascinated Alaa himself, I think. It's perfectly natural: to think that as ordinary people we have only two feet to walk on, two hands to work with, and can concentrate on a maximum of two tasks at the same time. It's only natural to imagine something better. Ahmed's father realised that fantasy in the image of Ahmed."

But Ahmed is not the only one. Annie, the seven-year-old daughter of artist Ayah Fouad and art professor Mohamed Abdel-Moneim, would demand paper and paints every time she saw them painting, and get down to business. "This was nice in itself," Ayah explains, "but in time I realised she had talent for mixing colours, holding the brush. She would even insist on using oil, which was far too advanced for her age." Annie's focus has shifted from people to animals. "She asked me to make drawings for her, but I gave her books so she could learn by herself. Whenever Abdel-Moneim comes home from a trip, the first thing she does is show him what she's drawn, and he often responds with something like, 'I'd like you to teach me, Annie!'" According to art critic Wagdi Habashi, artistic families of this kind are indeed quite common. He cites the family of Salah Taher in the plastic arts, the family of Farid Shawqi in acting, and the family of Abdel-Halim Nuweira in music. "What sets those children apart," he writes, "is that they grow up in the right climate."

Air de famille

Al-Ahram hebdo

Exposition . New Cairo Atelier a réuni les ?uvres de trois familles d?artistes. Une manière d?explorer leurs mondes et de comparer les sensations.

Air de famille

Le New Cairo Atelier, inauguré en octobre dernier, a décidé apparemment de faire dans l?originalité en choisissant durant cette saison d?organiser une expo familiale. Waël Darwich et sa femme Hind Al-Falafili, Mohamad Abdel-Moneim et sa femme Aya Fouad sans oublier leur fille Aani, et enfin le dessinateur Alaa Loutfi et sa femme Nachwa Abdel-Fattah, directrice de la galerie, ainsi que leur fils Ahmad.

« Ces familles se connaissaient déjà entre elles. La plupart de ces artistes ont déjà exposé au New Cairo Atelier. Et les ?uvres de certains parmi eux font partie de la collection permanente de la galerie. J?ai remarqué que les styles des partenaires-peintres se ressemblent parfois », explique Nachwa Abel-Fattah. C?est bien compris, tout se passe en famille depuis déjà un moment. « Vu que la galerie vient d?ouvrir ses portes en octobre dernier, je préfère organiser des expositions en duo ou collectives. Ainsi, le public de la galerie n?est-il pas propre à un seul artiste ».

Hind Al-Falafili et son mari Waël Darwich forment un couple à part. A travers un seul et grand tableau, le pinceau de Hind soutenu par les lignes de son crayon noir dresse une scène de la vie quotidienne riche en couleurs : une femme modeste en train de faire la lessive face à ses enfants. Une ?uvre qui baigne dans la réalité et qui s?oppose à l?abstraction caractérisant les quatre petits tableaux de son mari Darwich. Ce dernier évoque toujours des dualités : un homme et une femme, un homme et son ombre ou des chimères peintes à l?huile. Les couches de couleurs et les outils utilisés par l?artiste donnent lieu à une texture assez rêche.

Les tableaux de Alaa Loutfi et de sa femme Nachwa Abdel-Fattah planent dans un autre univers. Lui excelle dans les aquarelles avec un vieux navire en mouvement et des femmes mythiques. Il s?inspire sans doute des contes pour enfants publiés dans les magazines pour lesquels il travaille. Elle, par contre, fait dans la nature usant d?un style plus abstrait.

La troisième famille Mohamad Abdel-Moneim, sa femme Aya Fouad et leur fille Aani esquissent des portraits aux couleurs sobres. Une seule couleur pour le visage marque le tableau avec quelques modestes ornementations. Les traits du portait sont clairs chez Aya alors qu?ils sont plus ombrageux chez Mohamad.

Mais comme à chaque exposition la gageure pour la directrice est d?attirer un plus large public, étant donné que la galerie se situe dans la nouvelle cité d?Al-Qahira Al-Guédida (le Nouveau Caire) loin de l?ambiance plus intellectuelle du centre-ville.

May Sélim