Once again veteran artist Mustafa Al-Razzaz wows his audience with his recent collection of paintings and sculptures currently on show at Picasso gallery. In a number of paintings and sculptures of this exhibition says Al-Razzaz, horses are neighing and running which is the reason behind naming the exhibition “Horse's Spectrum,” a title reflects the nobility that was probably the result of painting horses for 50 years and then focusing on the study of manuscripts among the treasures of the manuscripts department at the General Authority for the National Library and Documentation in Cairo, where he was briefed on the strains and the types of horses in the period of the prosperity of the Islamic civilization and read about the qualities of each type and colour and form of these horses. His first encounter with the art of engraving and printing was at the hands of his teacher, artist Saad Al-Khadem, who was one of the pioneers of blending modernity with authenticity in the Egyptian art movement and an expert in the Egyptian folk heritage. A 1979 PhD graduate of philosophy from the State University of New York, Al Razzaz pursued post-graduate studies in Arts and Crafts at Oslo University. Since his first exhibition in 1966, the artist has held more than 40 exhibitions locally and internationally. He has occupied several prestigious positions; he was the former Dean of the Faculty of Specific Education for Arts and Music, Professor of design, Faculty of Art Education, Helwan University and Head of the Egyptian Society of Folk Art. Al Razzaz is an artist who is talented with a deep and wide ranged culture and knowledge, along with a mastery of intellectual genius and technical capacity. This competence is incorporated in his creative art work throughout diversified media whether bronze, cast paper or oil. As for his subject matter, Al Razzaz has always been preoccupied with Egyptian folk art. He expressed the romantic reality of the peasant life using animal motifs mainly the bird and the horse, to symbolize different emotional sates. The exhibition runs through 10 March.
