This week, the art scene in Egypt overtook new — postmodern — territory: an extension of the Zamalek Art Gallery on Hassan Sabry Street that, unlike any number of art spaces in the area, has a flavour all its own. Designed in a futuristic spirit, the gallery's interconnected halls boast ultramodern furniture and accessories, giving you the impression that you have left the bustling and increasingly aesthetically wanting city behind. And, to celebrate the opening, the Zamalek Art Gallery is putting on not one but two exhibitions this season. “One World, One Life” is the title of the first: a sculpture exhibition in the old gallery, or rather a striking arrangement of installations by sculptor Mohamed Al-Fayoumi. Facing you as you enter is a beautiful tree, huge, weighing over 250 kg, and reflecting the four seasons. It resembles a sycamore, yet is made up of two only two pieces: a trunk, and a branches in four directions. You can see birds cheerfully perched on one branch, a vision of spring, with green and orange leaves. On another branch are withered leaves and drooping twigs: autumn. The earth beneath the tree is furnished with green leaves, creating a truly fantastic sight. Two steps to the right, an equally powerful if rather more complicated work involves the viewer in a somewhat interactive aesthetic exercise. It consists of a chair and a desk, designed in the shape of a whale. You are invited to sit on the chair, to be in a position of control, owner of your surroundings. On the desk, you find a bottle and a hoopoe: you have the freedom to judge, to destroy or befriend nature. Eventually you notice a small window in turquoise full of symbols: a small heart, rays of a sunshine and a moon light... It is a window onto the world outside yourself, but also onto how you perceive yourself in it. Sculptures of small, adorable animals are scattered in the reception area, around the tree and the whale-desk. Al-Fayoumi, born in 1963, is famous for his comic sculptures of colourful and marginalised characters like street vendors, fat women and farmers. A graduate of the faculty of agriculture, Al-Fayoumi has a special feeling for the countryside and its attendant simplicity. “The idea of this exhibition first came to my mind in 1993. I started with very small figures of animals, in a caricaturist style. The idea developed in time, and in 2000 I started to work on more sophisticated pieces.” A resident of Al-Fayoum, the artist has made over 50 pieces for this dream project — but he chose only 20 for the present exhibition. For Al-Fayoumi, nothing is quite as it seems. The donkey is a symbol of patience, the rooster of dawn, the crocodile of the Nile, the horse of beauty and pride and the turtle of long life... “The idea is that as human beings we are responsible for the preservation of other creatures on earth, and for enriching our environment. The situation on our planet is worsening, it is miserable actually. Humans are harming animals, birds and plants, to the extent that some species have already vanished. We all bear the responsibility. We need to cultivate tolerance, respect and love for nature and its creatures, and hence for each other...” The influence of the city of Al-Fayoum on the artist is remarkable. “I used to spend many hours fishing in Lake Qarun (Moeris) and contemplating the beauty of the place. I also have an affection for dogs, especially stray ones. As a child, I once adopted a stray dog that was very loving and loyal, but was mercilessly killed before of my eyes by the municipality police, just because it was on the street. This incident affected me deeply, and since then I've felt very strongly about animals in general,” he said in a passionate tone. “My exhibition,” he added, “is an invitation to think outside the box by making those creatures the heroes that will raise the issues concerning mankind, building bridges of love, peace and mercy among all the creatures of the world.” The beautiful creatures are all made of bronze. They have different tints of brown and green, a result of the chemical interaction between bronze and various dyes under different degrees of heat. Curvy and plump, they feel so intimate you almost crouch down to play with them. Al-Fayoumi's process is too complicated to understand, involving various stages of hard work — despite their appeal, these creatures do not spring into being spontaneously. By now internationally renowned, Al-Fayoumi had difficulty establishing himself early in his career, when his expressionist work met with resistance because he did not hail from academic circles. “My father Mohamed Bakr,” he recalls, “was a brilliant painter, and I inherited the love of art from him. I started making sculptures while I was a small child at primary school, using the any available material as well as clay.” In the late 1990s, a one-month artistic scholarship to New York gave him boundless experience, as he puts it. Local and international exhibitions have followed, with the artist carving himself a unique niche in contemporary sculpture. Al-Fayoumi's next project will be an illustration of the operetta El Liela El Kebira (Anniversary Night), the landmark puppet show written by the vernacular poet Salah Jahin and composed by Sayyed Mekkawi. “This great work represents an important part of our musical heritage, and it deserves another look from a fresh artistic perspective. Sculptures of its famous characters will be illustrated in the original, cheerful spirit,” he concluded.
*** Opposite the old gallery, at the new, ultramodern space are paintings by the late artist Mohamed Riyad Said (1937-2008), a figure whose presence was strong enough for gallery owner Naheda Khoury to open the new gallery with. Said's paintings reflect a dream world that rejects the illusory falsehoods of the reality in which we live, she explained, embracing the deeper truths of our lives instead. Khoury feels the artist is one of the most talented surrealists in modern art history; it's a shame, she says, that his works were never granted the recognition they deserve in Egypt during his lifetime. And true enough — here are remarkable attempts at bridging the gap between the dream world and wakeful reality, or rather debunking the illusion that such a gap exists. His compositions are surprising and full of unexpected contrasts, with various creatures and motifs reflecting the unconscious. The artist lived between Egypt and Spain, having acquired an art professorship degree from Saint Fernando Academy in Spain in 1976. He also earned specialised diplomas in mural painting and graphic design. The range of his skill is evident, with each of the 20 paintings on show articulately voicing the question of human existence in a new way, full of questions and contradictions with few clues. Hailing from the last 10 years of his life, they vigorously animate the walls of the new gallery. One thing they have in common is the red apple, a dominant motif in almost all of them. It is often contrasted with a fish, or else a fist, two eggs in a nest or a small traditional oven. The possible relations are infinite, the juxtapositions more than stimulating. But be warned — these works require more than one visit. They are testimony to the abiding power of surrealism.
