Assem Abdel Fattah's solo exhibition Al-Harah (The Lane) is currently on display at Salamaart gallery. Interestingly enough, the exhibition tackles the theme of the Egyptian lane which is a very rich world full of details and scenes. Abdel Fattah's painting world is very unique both in form and content. He comments on the exhibition saying "I am an artist who escapes from the cement buildings and the polluted city's stifling smoke, I adore going back to nature as possible as I can, and I enjoy watching bright-coloured flowers and cactus spines with flowers." He added that his art experience is based on inspiring an imaginative world stored in the back memory or through depicting figures existing in nature. The artist has a great interest in simplifying the form and the colour, which is a very difficult task because he relinquishes half of his acquired skills to face his painting and in return he discovers another world for the first time. "Concerning the faces of my characters and their Pharaonic features and the motifs and elements inspired by the Egyptian heritage that studded my entire oeuvre; it is all evidences that I am very much attached to my homeland and very much influenced by a variety of civilizations whether Pharaonic, Coptic or Islamic that passed by Egypt," he concluded. Born in 1956, he obtained his BA at the Faculty of Fine Arts, painting department, Helwan University in 1982. He is currently a professor at the Fine Arts section in Al-Zaytouna University, Jordan. By using a wide range of experimental techniques Abdel-Fattah achieves luminous layers of richly textured colour and tone. He also shows great vitality in his use of vibrant colours and spontaneous expressions. The exhibition ends on 22 November.
