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Salwa and Maged at the Art Corner Gallery Exhibiting paintings by Salwa Halim and Maged Bishara, the Art Corner gallery in Zamalek is infused with a dose of serenity; subtle colour and fine technique.
Salwa Halim and Maged Bishara present a series of paintings that embody a calm and tranquil Egypt. The exhibition opened on 26 November at the Art Corner gallery in Zamalek. Halim employs translucent watercolours to create charming scenes of the Nile, the Nubians and snippets of rural life. Her collection of crisp, utterly Egyptian snapshots, boast a diverse palette and a dreamy composition. Her fellow artist (and husband) Maged Bishara, mixes his own paints to construct inimitable images of the Egyptian countryside, ancient antiquities and monasteries. He applies a unique technique to present fresh artwork with an aged façade that commemorates the country's astounding history. Halim's compilation shows diversity. Her portraits reflect depth and emotion, while her landscapes carry a certain timid vibrancy. Among her most captivating pieces is a portrait of a young Nubian man, staring into the distance (in an attempt to decipher his future, it seems), his eyes pensive and charming. A blue scarf is draped around his neck, while a turban artfully embraces his head. Frantic yet strategic, Halim's strokes separate the young man's brown face from his bright white turban (to which subtle yellow, blue and red strokes add flavour). Here, she strategically uses chalk pastels to create not only tone, but also personality, rendering the man's features distinct and his spirit effervescent. Still, her landscapes in watercolour steal the spotlight, radiating flagrant joie de vivre, despite their utter simplicity. Fishing boats rest upon a turquoise shore, conveying silent tales of life at sea. Five more boats, their sails pregnant and colourful, overlook a group of sailors spilling onto the shore. A palm tree is crammed into a tiny canvas; its long branches reaching out, overwhelmingly yet enchantingly, green. Halim does not bombard snapshots of nature with thick, judgmental layers of colour; helped by inconspicuous watercolours, she allows nature to speak for itself. “Watercolours are very tough to master,” she tells Ahram Online. “The medium's transparency enables the creation of a unique sense of harmony.” Halim explains that using watercolours requires careful choreography; each brushstroke is premeditated. Still, toying with colour, the artist manages to convey profound sentiment throughout her collection of watercolours. A painting of two falahas (peasant) and a boy is transfused in colour that is neither restricted to figures nor confined to outlines. Washes of bright red, green and yellow colour brush over the subjects, lending the archetypal rural image a sense of revitalising eccentricity. Maged Bishara paints aging homes, villages in the countryside and old monasteries. One of the most charismatic paintings in the petite gallery is Bishara's rendering of a few unadorned countryside houses, with five palm trees playing around in the foreground. The painting is composed of tones of brown, applied strategically to create palpable depth. Bishara is not too fussy about structure: if it looks like a house, it's a house. The palm trees introduce hints of green, breaking the silence ad serenity ever so slightly. The painting appears to be granulated, seemingly eroded by time - a feature shared by the rest of his pieces. Captivated by Egyptian history, Bishara's technique mirrors the age of his chosen subjects. For his artwork is set apart by his unique technique, through which he manages to age his paintings. His secret recipe is to mix watercolours with inks and a variety of art supplies in order to produce this mellowed façade. Also, seemingly pixilated, two of Bishara's paintings stand out against the rest - for they are painted almost exclusively in shades of blue. Individuals, buildings and palm trees swim in seas of blue, with the occasional hint of yellow or orange. “As an Egyptian, I draw my inspiration from the incredibly rich and historic atmosphere I was born into,” he explains. Inspired by Pharaonic and Coptic art, Bishara applies earth tones to his paintings, and documents scenes from the peaceful countryside, where man and nature peacefully co-exist. The exhibition runs at the Art Corner gallery in Zamalek until December 11.
