In his present exhibition, currently on showat Zamalek art gallery, exceptionally gifted artist Gamal Abdel-Nasser, no relation to the late legendary Egyptian leader wanted to remember and present greetings to the spirits of two late sculptors who are considered to be two of the greatest sculptors of Egypt, in fact of the entire world, who affected his artistic career all through his life and who passed away in 2013. They had a tremendous impact on Abdel-Nasser. They are Sobhy Girgis and Abdel-Hadi Al-Weshahi. "Al-Weshahi saved me from drowning in the swamp of chaotic art teaching which is pitifully spreading like a virus in art colleges. As for our mentor, the dear friend Girgis, I learnt a lot from his works that were preceding its era. This genius sculptor was able to break most of the rules of sculpture art," explained Abdel-Nasser. According to critic Edward Al-Kharat, "Sculptor Abdel-Nasser risked with audacity and delved deeply into areas of art untrodden before by any artist and that can be called post modernism. He breaks all traditional rules of beauty and creates his very own vision of beauty, that sometimes contain intentionally designed deformity that aims at creating the spirit of sarcasim." Born in 1957, he obtained his BA in sculpture at the Faculty of Fine arts, Helwan University. He held several exhibitions inside Egypt and abroad and lived part of his life in Switzerland and England. Abdel-Nasser pointed that what is new in this exhibition is creating some of the works in wood and marble. These beautiful natural materials allow him to appreciate his own art in a different fashion that encourges him to work more and try the same materials again. And, then he discovers the creative energy within other new media. The exhibition ends 27 February.
