Egypt joins Geneva negotiations on Global Plastics Treaty, calls for urgent agreement    Egypt delivers over 30 million health services through public hospitals in H1 2025    Madinet Masr in talks for three land plots in Riyadh as part of Saudi expansion    Egypt's PM tells Palestinian PM that Rafah crossing is working 24/7 for aid    Egypt, Japan discuss economic ties, preparations for TICAD conference    Real Estate Developers urge flexible land pricing, streamlined licensing, and dollar-based transactions    Egypt's Sisi pledges full state support for telecoms, tech investment    EGP inches down vs. USD at Sunday's trading close    EGX launches 1st phone app    Escalation in Gaza, West Bank as Israeli strikes continue amid mounting international criticism    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt, UNDP discuss outcomes of joint projects, future environmental cooperation    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    After Putin summit, Trump says peace deal is best way to end Ukraine war    Egypt, Namibia explore closer pharmaceutical cooperation    Jordan condemns Israeli PM remarks on 'Greater Israel'    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt's govt. issues licensing controls for used cooking oil activities    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Egypt's Sisi: Egypt is gateway for aid to Gaza, not displacement    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



The folk motif
Published in Al-Ahram Weekly on 24 - 08 - 2017

Folk-inspired works documenting the habits and beliefs of various parts of Egypt have been integral to the modern art movement, with early painters like Zakaria Al-Zeini (1932-1993) and Mounir Kanaan (1919-1999) making them a major focus of their work. Two exhibitions that opened last week depict folk themes: “Treasures of the Fourth Pyramid”, a selection murals from the Al-Ahram collection at the Al-Ahram Art Gallery sponsored by Al-Beit magazine Editor-in-Chief Sawsan Murad; and “Folk Tales”, showing work by Shaker Al-Edrissi and Shadi Farghali, at the Picasso Gallery in Zamalek.
Abdel-Rasoul
The Al-Ahram exhibition affords a wealth of material. One piece by Kanaan — oil on canvas on hardboard, 255cm wide and 113cm tall — shows a pretty rural bride against a backdrop of figures and motifs from the countryside blended with ancient Egyptian imagery in perfect harmony. Another, oil on hardboard painting by Sayed Abdel-Rasoul (1917-1995), which like much of Abdel-Rasoul's work also demonstrates the influence of Coptic and ancient art, shows fishing boats on the Nile. A piece by Omar Al-Nagdi (b. 1931), entitled A Folk Composition, depicts a popular celebration dominated by a tannoura dance and riddled with folk motifs.
Abdel-Hafiz
In contrast to this work — perhaps due to the disappearance from daily life of all such habits and beliefs — the Picasso Gallery exhibition contains nothing descriptive or celebratory. Folk themes in the work of these two mid-career artists are rather improvised and impressionistic. Al-Edrissi's mixed-media technique draws on his Dakhla Oasis heritage, while Farghali follows in the footsteps of his father artist Farghali Abdel-Hafez's abstract expressionist work. Both artists are 2002 graduates of the Design and Painting Department at the Faculty of Art Education.
Al-Edrissi
Al-Edrissi obtained an MA in folk arts in 2007 and is currently pursuing a PhD in workshop management, exhibiting mostly in the last two years at such galleries as Art Corner, the Cairo Atelier, Al-Masar and Khan Al-Maghraby. His signature style combines layers of bright colours, especially the yellow of the sand dunes and the red of ripe dates, with handwritten poetry influenced by Arabic classics like Burdat Al-Busairi or the work of Cavafy, as in the 2015 “September Stories”. Recurrent motifs include the children's cloth ball called a koraliya (literally “the little ball”) and the fabric doll. Sometimes inspiring fear rather than sympathy, as in the giant satyr depicting male virility, his work reveals a complicated world loaded with signifiers.
Kanaan
“I am still in contact with my hometown,” Al-Edrissi tells me, “which remains one of my main sources of inspiration. How woman mourners wear white, not black, for example. Or how they ululate as people do in weddings if the coffin proves light, a sign that the deceased is destined for heaven. The folk tales of Dakhla are always with me… I work directly on the surface of the canvas with no preparatory sketches. And with the mixed-media technique, I have a boundless world in front of me.”
Al-Nagdi
Abdel-Hafez's work is less original, coming across more like tourist souvenirs. With children playing in popular neighbourhoods, Upper Egyptian stick fighting or card games in downtown cafes, he expresses a nostalgia, he says, for “typical and significant characters such as fishermen and popular dancers”. He draws not from life or to reflect personal experience but to provide his own take on stock images.
Al-Edrissi
Both exhibitions run through 30 August.


Clic here to read the story from its source.