At Salama art gallery located in Mohandeseen, a duo retrospective exhibition of paintings by exceptionally gifted artists Mervat Refaat and Michael Maalouf is on display. Entitled Classics, the exhibition includes about 40 works painted in pastel, an art media that Refaat mastered years ago, as well as the oil colours which Maalouf excelled in using creating serene and classical styled paintings. Refaat mastered depicting the Bedouin women meticulously with their unique traditional costumes. However, Maalouf has brilliantly recreated the enchanting landscape of Alexandria in his own expression. This week will shed light on Refaat's entire oeuvre as the show traces the different and variant artistic phases of her art career. Refaat, born in 1933, knew how to paint before she learned how to read and write, “I had a great imagination and used to play as other children play. Later, I began to read adventure stories and draw the characters I love on the book cover,” explains Refaat. She also recalls when her art teacher at the school gave her a watercolor brush tray, and how she used to spend the summer vacation painting anything that crossed her mind such as the ballet dancers and interesting personalities that she read about in her stories. She had her first show held in the capital city of Sri Lanka, Colombo, in 1961, where she was infatuated by its tropical nature and its people's brightly-coloured clothing. Next, she started drawing portraits for different characters until she went to Paris in 1982, where she moved from the media of oil to pastel participating in a group exhibition in 1985 and a solo show in 1986. The exhibition runs through 16 February.
