Venus Fouad offers a personal view of a State enterprise that is badly in need of an overhaul "Here we are, the Egyptians, heirs to the greatest of all civilisations and owners of all the ancient Egyptian artist left us in terms of a heritage of artistic creativity that has influenced the entire world," reads the pamphlet for "Fellowship Glimpses, Art and Creativity", which took place last month ] in the Modern Art Museum in Cairo. This is the annual event in which the work of artists on government fellowships goes on show. The fellowships are organised by the Supreme Council for Culture to allow artists to focus on their art without being otherwise employed. Sixty-six artists exhibited paintings, graphics, sculpture, ceramics, and glass. Some of the sculptures were of remarkable quality, fashioned in a variety of materials involving glass, polyester, granite, limestone, and scrap metal. Saad Romani and Ahmad Shiha provided us with some of the best work in this year's event. Shiha's painting symbolises the end of political deception in the midst of various confrontations across the country. He remains reductionist in his work to shape and colour. Using sand and oxides, he reproduces ancient motifs with fresh references. Romani's mosaic showing a trotting white horse with its mane flying in the wind was quite captivating. Even more so is another mosaic with a dancer in ancient dress. Although the material must have been difficult to handle, Romani has ably captured the undulating movement of the dancer in an entrancing display of colour and light. Among the younger artists who displayed their work was Suzan Shokri, whose rendition of two sisters holding hands conveys an uncertainty quite evocative of the country's current situation. Another painting, of a multi-panelled display of women's faces done in pastel and ink, is remarkable in its subtle expressions. Azza Ahmad Ali's folk images are also quite enchanting, especially her depiction of a woman feeding a duck. She has mastered the theme of working-class women and time-honoured family rituals, such as that celebrating the seventh day of a newborn child. Ali's work is quite expressionist, and her ability to bring emotion to the surface imparts a lasting vitality to her work. Attiyat Motawalli blends ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean imagery in a setting of decorative art. In one of her paintings ,Greaco-Roman faces stare at us from the top part of the composition, while African faces and totemic symbols dominate another painting. Her approach is fresh, although her technique remains mostly tentative. Amr Fathi's depiction of Africa throws the spotlight on the exploitation of children, as in his painting showing a child shackled at the neck with metal chains. His work in black and white adds an aura of intensity to the theme. Mohamed El-Damrawi paints Egyptian women in smooth lines to produce a dynamic effect. His main theme -- women and their efforts to support their families -- may be sombre, but he employs a touch of gilding to bring a feeling of joy to his composition. Zakaria Soliman's kaleidoscope symbolises the near miraculous overthrow of the Mubarak regime. He paints human figures with their back to the viewer, as if to symbolise a motion towards the future. In another painting we see a clown carrying a plate of food and glancing around him in fear, a possible commentary on the fact that many people in this country have changed their political skin after the revolution. He uses a mix of political imagery in the background to build up tension around his main theme. Hani Amin Rayyan's batik, which involves hand printing on silk, blends political symbolism with decorative art. The tug of war he depicts, with some of the players bearing Nubian features, is indicative of his concern over the country's unity. He borrows the decorative motives from Nubia add sophistication to his compositions. This was the fifth exhibition of the work of recipients of the State's art fellowships, and it poses certain questions about the transparency and administration of these fellowships, whose value has recently increased tenfold. One would have expected art of a higher quality among the recipients of the grant, and yet much of what I saw was somewhat mediocre. Some of the recipients have now benefited from these fellowships for 21 years, and some university professors have managed to obtain fellowships while at the same time retaining their academic jobs. Some of the artists are recent college graduates who have been able to secure some of the fellowships even though they have no track record of note. The fairness and transparency of these fellowships are therefore in question. I am saying this because, frankly, some of the exhibited pieces were unfit to be shown in such a venerable space as the Modern Art Museum, a place that boasts in its collection the work of such remarkable artists as Ragheb Ayyad, Inji Aflatoun and Mahmoud Said. In the absence of an overview the fellowships seem to have strayed away from its original purpose, and so I would like to see the Minister of Culture, Shaker Abdel-Hamid, who came in person to inaugurate the event, holding a review of State scholarship -- especially if we are looking forward to an artistic renaissance in the wake of the 25 January Revolution.
