In Helmi El-Touni's most recent work, Rania Khallaf encounters the stark contradictions of present-day life in Egypt Held at the Ebdaa Art Gallery, Helmi El-Touni's contribution to the collective exhibition, "The Spirit of the Moment" (27 February-22 March, with Ahmed Morsi and Ahmed Fouad Selim) is an attempt at visualising the present moment. Roaming the spacious halls, you begin to question the essence and paradox of life. "Our life is burdened with friction," he says: "the extreme wealth and shameful poverty, enlightenment and dogmatism." A deeper look at the paintings reveals the contrast between red and grey, living and still objects. A graphic designer as well as a painter, El-Touni's work is full of symbols, gleaned from Egyptian folk art. Red can be traced back to A Girl's Dream (1995), the picture of a girl flying on a fish's back with a horn in her right hand, a hoopoe on her left -- all painted red. The colour is also a principle feature of Beautiful Faces from a Magnificent Time (1998), Egyptian Beauty (2002) and Girls' Play and the Gods of Reformation (2006). "I've been preoccupied with theoretical themes gleaned from my observation of life, likewise political, social and economic events. At present our society is suffering from the side effects of a painful transition, yielding conflicting and violent circumstances that stimulate visual themes." This dialectic had yielded a range of "visual essays" dealing with the relationship between aspects of life (women, birds, fruit) on the one hand and death (still objects) on the other. In One Painting, for example, a vase of colourful sunflowers incorporates a flower made of iron -- a bizarre juxtaposition demonstrating just that. It is this mode of creativity that has prevailed, but rather than mere juxtapositions, iron objects often reside in the background, leaving the main stage for other scenes in the creative theatre. Woman is mistress, all present and favoured: a reflection of life in all its freshness, cheerfulness and purity. And to the array of mythological motifs El-Touni has consistently employed -- lantern, hoopoe, fish -- he has now added an egg. "The idea dates back to six years ago," he comments, "and it is somehow related to the Christian concept of the Nativity. The shape of an egg is bewildering in itself: its combination of fragility and strength is poetically inspiring." One particularly thoughtful piece is the 100cm painting The Dance: a provincial woman in traditional galabeya dances barefoot with Uncle Sam; and at the bottom edge of the painting, next to Uncle Sam's shoe, lies an egg -- implying that America is about to shatter all that the egg symbolises. Does such a repetition of motifs, colours and themes pose risks for El-Touni's development, however? Could it end up boring the viewers? El-Touni relates to one of Picasso's dicta: the artist accomplishes only one painting in his life; repetition is a reflection of originality, like a fingerprint, he says. El-Touni's titles alone are incredibly evocative: Lips and Iron, Bird Visit, Child and Iron Horse... One interesting painting -- running contrary to the spirit of the whole show -- is Nut, a huge piece named after the ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky. The goddess is recognisable in the greenish tint of her naked skin and in her posture, but rather than the earth god Ged, she bends over a large slice of watermelon and a broken egg, symbolising life and virginity. "It's an attempt to rethink [Egyptian] identity in a modernist way. Invoking elements of heritage is often regarded as an outdated technique, with many artists upholding globalism instead, but I feel this is the other face of totalitarianism. And I live in my own world," El-Touni adds, "away from prevalent artistic trends -- a nostalgic world."
