takes us into a special world of visual creativity, in which old and new interact through legends and folk heritage, writes Nagwa El-Ashri The title of artist 's most recent exhibition, held at the Cairo Opera House earlier this month, was as enigmatic as the artist himself, a man who has mastered the applied as well as the theoretical aspects of art. The sheer size of Kamal's canvases allows for riotous compositions of colour and experimentations with form that leave the audience in a state of enchanted awe. Kamal's motifs are often drawn from the world of folk and popular culture, and in his work one encounters a variety of animals, including roosters and horses, and dogs and cats, all appearing side by side with human figures in compositions that summon up the strengths of the ordinary as well as of the fantastical. The artist, who sometimes interposes his self-portrait into the paintings, shows unusual romanticism in his depiction of abstract themes, though he also presents figurative materials. The figure of the rooster, for example, a strong point of the present exhibition, is conceived as being a timeless one and one that denotes not just a member of the bird kingdom, but also the collective soul of all living beings. We hear Kamal's rooster crowing, not necessarily at daybreak, and the painter has explained his meaning in a poem accompanying the paintings. The crowds are out again, Another hard day ahead: Embarrassment, and laughter too, Defiance and regret. Fatigue lulls you into Childhood fantasies, Teenage daydreams, Ambitions and frustrations, The sour and sweet. The drama of all males and females. Kamal started his career as a figurative painter, before adopting a kind of free expressionism in the mid-1970s, and in his famous early gravure work he harnessed the creative energy of his imagination. After studying in England, France and Italy, he switched from engraving to oil painting, producing work that crossed the boundaries of impressionism and expressionism. Enchanted with northern Italian scenery, Kamal produced memorable paintings of landscapes and people from the hills and valleys surrounding Urbino. In the early 1990s, Kamal began experimenting with abstraction, allowing him to explore visual impressions without the entanglements of detail. In the mid-1990s, he produced a series of paintings of the people and scenery of Egypt's deserts. This was the result of journeys that took him to Al-Wadi Al-Gadid and Farafra Oasis, producing some of the most brilliant scenes of sand and white rocks in modern Egyptian art. Work from this period was included in his 2001 exhibition, But This is Life ( Walakennaha Al-Haya ). Birds then started mating with fish in Kamal's pictures, and in 2005 the urge to capture the absurdities of modern life seems to have caused Kamal to show the wedding of a bird and a fish. The metaphor of impossibility and the grotesque was obvious. Over the past decade or so, Kamal has been focussing more on ideas than on themes, often leaving his audiences to guess the thrust of his work. Yet, it seems that his work has also become more contemplative, that of a veteran, perhaps, looking back over years gone by. In a note explaining his work Faces seeking Painter, Kamal says that, "the old painter has reached the end of the road. Legs shaking under him, he takes one look back and sees faces chasing after him, some eager to reveal themselves, some cautious and cagey." The artist may have aged, but his journey is far from over. A professor at the College of Applied Arts at Helwan University, Kamal also founded and chaired the Higher Institute for Applied Arts at 6 October governorate. Over the past 40 years, he has had more than 35 solo exhibitions, and his work has been shown in various venues and museums across the world. Kamal is known for his research in visual communication, his excellent work in gravure, and his mastery of the applied arts. He has been secretary-general of the Association of Plastic Artists and has served on various local and international judging panels and academic institutions. Over the last three decades, Kamal has mentored artists and taken part in many art events in Egypt and abroad. He has served as a member of the Higher Council for the Association of Applied Arts Designers, the Plastic Arts Committee of the Higher Council of Culture, the Committee of the Arts Sector at the Higher Council of Universities, and other art associations.
