"Women and Horses" is the name of the latest exhibition of paintings by the celebrated artist and graphic designer Helmi Al-Toni. It is currently on show at the Picasso Gallery in Zamalek. Using his distinct quirky style, filled with folkloric symbols and references, Al Toni offers 30 oil paintings in which the figure of the woman, brilliantly depicted, symbolises Egypt; and the horse likewise stands for revolution, freedom and dignity. The woman is a recurrent theme in Al-Toni's oeuvre, but here she is accompanied by the horse in different scenes. Sometimes they are painted separately while at other times the horse is pictured as a necklace decorating the woman's neck. Al-Toni showed some of these paintings last year at a collective exhibition in Kuwait, then he devoted himself during the past few months to completing the series. Critics have described this work as a form of "musical expressionism" in which green, red, black and white overwhelm the blue skies in the backgrounds. The exhibition is running through 12 April.
