Under the title “Debunking Orientalism,” Syra Arts inaugurated its exhibition in Washington city in the United States. The exhibition features works by emerging and established artists who live and work out of Egypt, from Cairo to Beheira and Sohag to Alexandria. The show will run from 19 to 25 July. The exhibition offers a window onto a landscape comprised of a multiplicity of approaches, styles and engagements by artists working simultaneously and engaging with various narratives within the art scene in Egypt. The diversity of artists represented in this show celebrates the pluralism and dynamism of the contemporary Egyptian art scene. The works resonate locally and internationally, operating in a liminal space between East and West. Some of the artists work out of Egypt, while others engage directly with their surroundings, and others create an altogether unique visual vernacular. Hosny delivering a speech Among the participant artists are former Minister of Culture Farouk Hosny's gestural, vibrant palette that speaks the universal language of formalist abstraction in a cultural response to Western abstract expressionism. Muhammad Mahdy's calligraphic, gestural paintings push beyond the boundaries of the textual, reorienting our attention to the aesthetic qualities of script, no longer as a vehicle for meaning but rather as an expressive mode in itself. Ahmed Morsi's surreal landscapes and portraits juxtapose features from Coptic, Pharaonic and modern folk Egyptian visual languages, offering up new narratives and creating a visual dialogue with his forerunners from the Egyptian Surrealist Group (founded in the late 1930s.) Adel El Siwi, Armen Agop, Essam Darwish, Galila Nawar, Marwa Adel, Mina Nasr, Mohamed Ardash, Ramses Marzouk, Yasser Rostom and Azza Fahmy are also among the participants. The exhibition was attended by several prominent Egyptian and international figures as well as diplomats. Hosny previously exhibited his art work in the United States at the National Photographic Museum in 2004 as well as in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Huston Art Museum in Huston and Forte Miami Deals in Florida. Since 2011, SYRA Arts has been dedicated to representing the variety and depth of Middle Eastern art to both art lovers and discerning collectors by bringing cutting-edge and rising artists to the United States. Hosny art work Adel El-Siwi work Ahmed Morsi with his work For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
