The 36th annual salon of Heliopolis Sporting Club is currently on show featuring 50 artists in the different art fields including sculpture, painting, ceramic, graphic and photography. This year's round honours veteran artist Mustafa Al-Razzaz. Al-Razzaz gained fame for his cheery paintings with bright colours that brightens up the mood of any viewer who beholds them. Although mastering painting, sculpture, drawing and graphic, he never surrenders to artisan that may lead him to the grim styles; his paintings are free from the monotonous details and tend towards simplicity. His paintings are inspired by the folk tales and legends and are characterized by spontaneity. For instance, the arm is transformed into a sword and the human body is altered to a bird while the bird is depicted as a plant and the human face shared the bird face in the same painting. Nothing in the relations of forms in Al-Razzaz art can be interpreted to give a specific meaning, however, the audience has to conduct a dialogue with the painting that urges him or her to raise questions and use his mind and stimulate his imagination. Motifs deduced from Egypt's rich folk heritage are abundant in most of his production. The movement in Al-Razzaz works is always there and this feeling is confirmed to the audience through the smooth lines used in the designs and where the straight lines and the sharp angles are very rare, on the contrary delicacy and musical rhythms are achieved by the elasticity of the line and the poetic effect of colours. Al-Razzaz is not only a graphic artist and sculptor but also a renowned art critic. He did several studies and research works on art and artists, heritage as well as other art-related issues. He received a number of local prizes such as the 41 Cairo Salon and the High Dam awards in painting.
