Religious themes have always inspired art. Gamal Nkrumah interviews artist Amir Chowki Wahib The Last Supper by Amir Chowki Wahib is an extraordinary painting. It's not art as we know it, but that's the point. It is, with all due respect, a far cry from Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. It is more akin to Gauguin's Vision After the Sermon, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel. Or even Gauguin's The Yellow Christ, of which it has echoes. Chowki's art hints at geometric forms, without the realistic detail of the impressionists -- Monet and Renoir -- or the constant challenge of conventional values. What animates Chowki is a love of freedom, an urge to break free of all restrictions. Yet his works vaguely resemble those of the great masters -- the colours of The Last Supper in particular, its blues and soft browns, are faint reminders of Matisse's A Glimpse of Notre Dame in the Late Afternoon. That said, it is possible to feel some sympathy for Chowki's heart-on-sleeve approach to art and religion. "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said take, eat; this is my body," Chowki reads from the Gospel According to Matthew. He explains how he turned wholeheartedly to his religion after completing the painting. "Look at that little dark figure at the far end, entering by the door. That's me." You can almost hear the creak. He picks up from where he left narrating from the Bible. "And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying drink ye all of it. For this is my blood, of the new testament, which is shed for many the remission of sins." These words uttered by Jesus Christ on Maundy Thursday immediately preceded his crucifixion and subsequent ascension, and they form the basis of the Eucharist, the sacrament of the Holy Communion. They are the essence of Easter, the most hallowed of Christian festivities. Painted in 1996, at a time when Chowki had stopped observing the rituals of his faith, Chowki's The Last Supper represented a defining moment in his life. His family was highly critical of his lack of church attendance even though he assured them that he had "faith in Christ". He first exhibited the curious painting at Picasso Gallery, Cairo, later in the year in December. The theme of the exhibition was "Coptic Scenes" -- but not all the participants were Coptic Christians. Indeed, many were Muslim-born artists who depicted different aspects of Coptic heritage in their paintings. These were works inspired by Coptic ritual. The Coptic Pope Shenouda III and the then Grand Mufti of Al-Azhar opened the exhibition which, Chowki remembers fondly, was a turning point for him. "The exhibition embodied the true spirit of national unity." Religion and art have historically been inextricably intertwined in the Coptic Christian tradition. For many, art is no longer seen as compatible with religion. And, especially art forms that depict religious figures. Perhaps, the greatest difference between Christianity and Islam is that while with the former the pictorial representation of saints and prophets was typically the progenitor of much artistic endeavour, with Islam most pictorial representation of religious figures was prohibited -- a notable exception, perhaps, being the famous Shia images of Imam Ali, the Prophet Mohamed's son-in-law, and the prophet's grandsons Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein. There are Muslim artists, but few if any will have the nerve to illustrate the Prophet Mohamed. Not so with Christianity, where the portrayal of Jesus Christ, crucified or otherwise, is a favourite theme even today. Amir Chowki Wahib graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, department of interior design, in 1993. He is an Egyptian Christian, and many of his works are heavily influenced by Christian themes. However, he refuses to identify himself as a Christian artist. Chowki's works are replete with doors, windows, tables and chairs. "The chair is male and the table is female," he muses. "Tables are always surrounded by chairs, never the other way round." He is both an artist and an interior designer. His designs, he says, are influenced by the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and Mackintosh. His paintings feature furniture galore and balconies, niches and archways. He is also especially interested in the female form in his works -- both faces and figures, often scantily-clad. Chowki has had solo and group exhibits in several of the most prestigious art galleries in the country. In Cairo, his one-man shows included works exhibited at the Atelier du Caire, Khan Al-Maghrabi, the Cairo Design Centre, the Safar Khan, and the Orient Express art galleries. His works were also on display at Extra, Doroub, Shemou and Riash galleries. Among the highlights of his career was an exhibition at Ewart Hall, the American University in Cairo, in October 2003. The latter he considers a landmark of importance to his whole development. In Lebanon, Chowki exhibited at World of Art Gallery. A Lebanese friend invited him and he was eager to explore new terrain. "At that stage I just wanted to exhibit and to show the world my art," he explains. Chowki spent a couple of months in Lebanon, meeting artists and connoisseurs. "Lebanon was a particularly exhilarating experience for me personally. I also witnessed the way the Lebanese conduct business and learnt a great deal from them. Art, too, is a business." Chowki exhibited at the Forum Interart Galleria, Rome, in 2001 and was presented with the International Quality Summit Award for Excellence and Business Prestige (Gold Category) during the 15th International Convention Quality Summit in New York. In the United States, and ironically, soon after 11 September 2001, he participated at the Ward Nasse Gallery and the Omega Gallery, Lexington Avenue, New York. The theme, he recalls, was "Art from the Heart." "There are 1,200 galleries in New York City," Chowki notes. "I visited as many galleries as I could. It was an eye-opening experience." From religion, the conversation veers sharply towards the painting of nudes. "The country is in a state of diffidence," Chowky laments. "The nude life model, a prerequisite of teaching art in days bygone, has become persona non grata." A nude life model posing before students of art has simply become an aberration, even an abomination. It is out of the question. Chowki said that there is self-censorship among artists today because of the overwhelming and pervasive social conservatism. "Few galleries would exhibit works of art of nudes. Molotov cocktails would most likely be hurled at the offenders," Chowki explained. Soon after he graduated from Cairo University's Faculty of Art, Zamalek, Chowki sought to live as an artist, but his heart was also in interior design, which he considers as an extension of his art. And indeed his strongest pieces are those where his training as an interior designer comes into full play. He uses bold colours and acrylic is his favourite medium. A few of his works are oil on canvas, but most aren't. Chowki's portraits are almost exclusively of women. His first portrait was that of his mother. "She liked it," he adds with a smile. He proceeded to do ten more portraits of close friends. Not all of them were met with approval by the subjects. "Both my parents encouraged me to become an artist," Chowki says. His family might not be of artists, but they are art lovers. His younger brother, Sameh, is an architect. Chawki is in his mid-thirties and works mainly from his Heliopolis studio, Nocchio. His art is reminiscent of the French masters of the early 20th Century -- especially his favourite, Matisse. One of the most widely admired works of Chowki is The Abul Ela Bridge which now hangs in the National Museum. It was first exhibited at Doroub Gallery and was inaugurated by Ahmed Nawar, head of the National Centre for Fine Arts. Nawar had admired the oil colours of Chawki's few oils, but the acrylics and oil pastels of Abul-Ela Bridge arrested so much that he decided to purchase the painting on the spot. Chawki is looking forward to another solo exhibition at the Alliance Francaise, Port Said on 2-16 May. "Art, like religion, is a message -- an idea," Chowki says. But considering the freedom with which he works, I am still trying to work out what he was trying to tell me.
