Mustafa Kamalis a professor of painting at the Faculty of Applied Arts, Helwan University, and the founding chairman of the Board of Directors of the Higher Institute of Applied Arts at the Academy of Art and Design in 6 October City. He has given some 36 solo exhibitions over 43 years, evolving from socially concerned realism in the 1960s to abstraction and cubism that embraces the human element. He often employed lithography to the same end. It was through lithography that he embraced oil painting starting in 1975, balancing impressionism and expressionism as he indulged his metaphysical concerns. After 1981, he gave in to impressionism, producing visual reflections of a given form without reproducing its detail. This is evident in his collection “Roses” (1990-1994) and in landscapes that directly involve the viewer in the creative process. The Italian critic Silvia Faso Quini writes, “Kamal's art gives me a sense and aroma of time through the selected topics he chooses to express his future vision filled with hope and the meaning of life. His philosophy is based on his accurate calculations as a creative artist through the main elements of life, which are humans, plants and animals”.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 27 August, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly