Nader Habib views an exhibition that brings the world of ancient Greece to life The allure of ancient Greece, like its gods, is immortal. Now the civilisation has been revived by Ayman Hamed in his recent exhibition "On the Greek Side of My Mind". A graduate of the graphics department at the College of Fine Arts, Hamed is an artist who says his calling is art in all its forms. He is also an art critic, writing regularly for local and regional publications including Al-Sharq al-Awsat, Al-Qahira, Al-Thaqafa Al-Gadida, Adab wa Naqd, Ibdaa, Prism and Al-Badil. He is also co-founder of Al-Khayal, an arts magazine published by the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces. In the course of his prolific career Hamed has produced comic strips, illustrations, and animation films. "I am not the only one who likes variety and change," he says. "Take the example of Omar al-Nagdi. Or consider the case of Salah Jahine, who was a caricaturist, song writer, and script writer. Art in an exciting journey and the only way to learn is to try." With "On the Greek Side of My Mind" Hamed ventures into the distant past, invoking the times of Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. This is in wild contrast to his very modern art materials. Even with them he does something quite new: he dilutes acrylics into subdued hues of a dreamy quality. "I was able to thin the colours into a translucent state similar to watercolour, which can give you a romantic and elegant effect. Although acrylics can also be thick and crude if that is what you're going for," he says. Watercolours are his usual media, but he points out that they require immense skill since there is no chance of going back and making corrections. "Watercolours are like a live relay. Once you say something on air you cannot take it back. Oil is more forgiving. You can paint over any colour, even black." Hamed's passion for Greece began in childhood. A Greek family lived near his family home, and their son, Yorgho, was his best friend. "We used to live in Matariya, not far from the house of the poet Ahmad Shawqi with its Andalucian-inspired architecture. Back then Matariya was a very elegant neighbourhood, which it no longer is. Yorgho was a very active boy and he had a great impact on my life. He was an inventor and innovator, and fearless too. He would do things that I wouldn't dream of doing, shy as I was. He would whistle at girls in the street and chase after horse-drawn carriages. When his father died 35 years ago, Yorgho and his mother went back to Athens." Hamed grew up in a house filled with books. "We had bookcases all over the house, and I once found a big volume called The Mythology of Love and Beauty among the Greeks by Dreini Khashaba. I loved the myths it contained, and I was mesmerised by the ancient deities, so human-like and fallible." In this book Hamed read about Lydia, the beautiful maiden who was bathing in the lake when Zeus fell in love with her. To seduce, her, the mighty deity turned himself into a swan. It is a myth that had captured the imagination of many artists, Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Salvador Dali included. "I also read about Phaedra, Electra and Oedipus, all of whom have inspired playwrights and painters, sculptors and choreographers," Hamed says. Greece was the first foreign country Hamed travelled to. He was still a college student, and being in Greece was a dream come true. "It was like walking into an enchanted world. I used to stand for hours in front of the monuments. The reality was different from anything I imagined. The shops closed at 8 pm and then the nightlife would start, with music and dancing and fun in the street-side taverns." During his graduate work Hamed met Professor Ahmad Badawi, then dean of the Higher Institute for Art Criticism. Badawi was well-versed in Greek literature and encouraged Hamed to pursue Greek philosophy and art in a systematic fashion. Hamed believes that part of the calling of art is to recreate history and comment on it. "We cannot learn anything new unless we examine human legacy, not in an escapist way but in an attempt to understand our own lives," he says. If we achieved true enlightenment we would be more tolerant toward others. "There is nothing wrong in holding on to one's culture, religion, or politics, so long as one doesn't denigrate the beliefs of others. We're not alone in this world." His paintings, executed in soft colours, have the brooding quality of withered glory, the enchanting dreaminess of ancient mythology. The conquests of Alexander the Great are invoked in shades of blue, the colour of the Mediterranean. The haunting faces of beautiful maidens, hair braided in the traditional Greek manner, gaze back at the viewers from the depth of fantastical surroundings. "I try to convey the splendour of the Greek civilisation, the awesomeness of temples perched on top of mountains and the splendid intricacy of Corinthian columns," Hamed says. He uses rice paper in his work to accentuate the sensuality of a disappearing past. His paintings, such as that of a semicircular Greek theatre, conjour the age of parchment and the wondrous musings of the ancient poets. Then comes modern Greece, with its boisterous colours and chaotic energy, to offer a counterpoint to the mythological paraphernalia of its past. In his work Hamed summons the legends of the wars, battles and love songs of many centuries ago. His painting of Aphrodite, with her intriguing gaze and languorous posture, has the same quality of purity that Greek artists were determined to pursue. One memorable piece, painted in acrylic, is of a scene at the bottom of the sea, an escapade that delves into the invisible world of deities and demons. "I am a Pisces and that's why I love the water. Pisces people like to dream, to look at the moon. I cannot be a warrior, but I can be a poet or a musician." In his depiction of the underwater world Hamed paints intriguing rocks, their surfaces resembling human faces. "I always leave some room for interpretation for the viewer. I don't like finality and its limitations. I prefer to let the viewers ponder what they see." The empty space in painting can be just as haunting as a moment of silence on stage. "I respect the void. Stillness sharpens the mind. When an actor pauses on stage he commands the full attention of the audience. They want to know what happens next." The ancient Greeks idolised perfection. Artists did not paint reality as it was, but improved on it until it matched their ideals. There was once a Greek artist, Hamed says, who liked to do caricatures, bending shapes out of all proportion. He was hated and eventually punished because he was seen as an enemy of perfection. In reality the ratio of the head to the human body is one to seven, but in Greek sculpture the ratio is often changed into one to seven and a half, a more appealing proportion than that of the average human body. One of the most enchanting of Hamed's paintings is The Scribbles, which is inspired by ancient writing on desert stones in Arabia. Hundreds of years before Islam caravans would crisscross the desert following their trade routes, and sometimes they would stop and rest. If the resting point was near a rock they were tempted to leave their mark on it, a kind of ancient graffiti. These engravings can no longer be read, and that is why they are often referred to as "scribbles". In his painting of the Olympians, Hamed depicts a girl running and handing over a torch to another girl who is about to enter in the race. In his paintings we see compositions inspired by the ancient world and its familiar motifs, the temples, the armies, the fleets. Greek art reminds Hamed of Egyptian art, except when it comes to size. The Egyptian civilisation portrayed things as much bigger. "If you consider the size of Egyptian monuments you'll find that they are much bigger than the ones in Greece," he says. This exhibition is the product of years of thinking and dreaming about ancient Greece. "Over time, I would make sketches about Greek themes and set them aside. I would read books and take notes. When it was time to paint, I took out all of these sketches and notes and spread them in front of me. I played Greek music in the background. And the result is what you see." The exhibition runs until 31 November at Nashwa Art Store.
