Vinous Fouad finds that the Fourth Salon Masr benefits from ignoring the age gap The fourth session of Salon Masr, held from 16 to 28 August in the Ofoq 1 Hall, an annexe of the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Giza, featured 12 Egyptian artists, each exhibiting several pieces. The first Salon Masr launched a new tradition of group exhibitions for outstanding artists. The following two events aimed to give the public some insight into the development of Egyptian art work, as well as help researchers sketch a theoretical outline for Egypt's contemporary art scene. This year's fourth Salon Masr aimed to break free from the narrow outlook that has so far defined creativity on the basis of age group. In this event, the young exhibit their creative work along with the veterans, thus offering viewers a fresh outlook at artistic expression in the country. The participants in this year's Salon were Ahmad Abdel-Ghjani (oil on various surfaces); Al-Sayyed Abdou Selim (sculpture); Evelyn Ashamallah (oil); Ayman El-Semari (oil); Gamal Abdel-Nasser (bas relief and decorative sculpture); Khalid Sorur (oil and gouache) Reda Abdel-Salam (oil and mixed material); Salah Hamid (sculpture and bas relief); Abdel-Salam Eid (collage and mixed material); Fathi Afifi (oil); Mohamed El-Tarawi (oil and watercolour); and Mohamed Mandour (ceramics). In all, 60 paintings, 24 sculptures and bas relief pieces and 11 ceramic objects (all by Mandour) were in display. Ahmad Abdel-Ghani's chose decorative tiles to launch a new style, one in which he uses extraordinary material to tackle unusual subjects. He cuts pieces of wood into tiles and paints them with geometric shapes, integrating decorative units of a repetitive nature. He adds a touch of realism with the introduction of feigned cracks in the tiles. He also manufactures a natural look for the tablia (short table), and fashions grainy surfaces that invoke the appearance of bread and straw mats. The trompe l'oeil is so perfect that viewers feel impelled to touch the images to ascertain their true nature. Trompe l'oeil is an art form that started with rococo artists in the 18th century and experienced a revival with the hyper realists of the 1940s. It made a comeback in the 1970s as a protest reaction to the rise of expressionist abstraction and conceptual art. It was integrated in bas relief in the 1980s by the artists Duane Hanson and John De Andrea. Abdel-Ghani takes a keen interest in showing the visual details of his subjects, emphasising the physical qualities of the composition and amplifying the impact of the material he is using. Al-Sayyed Abdou Selim opts for radical realism in his sculpture work, with the primary focus placed on the subject. The figures he creates seem to suffer from turmoil, and he skilfully brings their inner turmoil to the surface. Reda Abdel-Salam continues his attempt to break free from the conventional boundaries of art as he discards traditional material to experiment with innovative canvas. He folds pieces of linen to create several layers, a technique that allows for an intriguing juxtaposition of the hard surface of the background with the soft layers above. He integrates phrases and words in unintelligible English into the composition, as if trying to overcome the structure of language. His work transcends cultural customs as he allows non-compositional strokes of the brush the freedom to create shapes that seem to float in the air, unhindered by gravity, yet connected with intersecting lines. Evelyn Ashamallah draws her inspiration from legends and mythology, a trend that she started almost three decades ago. Her compositions are theatrical and dramatic in their effect, fraught with symbolism and primary impulses. She goes for an expressionist style that accentuates detail, invoking the same exaggeration of features that is common in folk legacy while flirting with the endless potential of magical realms and fantastical interpretation. In her work, the human form is often disassembled, as inherent fears coalesce into a mosaic that is totally her own. Mohammad El-Tarawi rebels against the realistic depiction of shapes and figures by turning forms into abstract colour areas, using oils sometimes and gouache alternately. His compositions, however, manage to follow a logical pattern, so unlike the random approach of Abdel-Salam. Gamal Abdel-Nasser brings folklore to the world of bas relief, offering decorative embellishment that infuses a playful mood into his work. His pieces maintain a distinct character of joyful authenticity. Mohamed Mandour's giant vases stand out for their awesome presence. Aside from the fact that they are technically hard to produce with an ordinary pottery wheel, his pieces are laden with cultural references, mainly taking their inspiration from pharaonic pots and Islamic ceramics. He introduces serrated compositions in various cadences to emphasise circularity and height, creating a crescendo that pulls the eye to the top of the vase. The most important elements of his work are a masterful use of colour and lighting, which brings a Sufi feel on his shapes, adding to their sense of majesty and air of durable purity. Khalid Sorur uses folkloric decoration to produce compositions that are Egyptian par excellence. Looking at his paintings, one can is actually conscious of the smell of Egyptian backstreets and hear the laughter of children as they play. There is a simplicity and spontaneity in his imagery, as well as a bit of storytelling. His art is now at the point where it approximates children tales, an approach that is laudable since it may help bring Egyptian influences back into the imagination of the young instead of imported Western imagery. I believe that the artistic maturity Surur has achieved is the result of his work at the Graphics Design Centre of the General Authority for Cultural Palaces. Fathi Afifi's oil paintings are filled with action and vitality. He employs the colour blue to symbolise his interest the world of manual labour. His work, while glamourising the role of workers in society, invokes images from 1960s, when workers and machines were common art themes. I believe that Afifi is trying to call attention to the importance of local industry. In one particular painting, he shows a worker sitting at a café table, apparently waiting for a job that never comes. The activism he seems to go for is refreshing; he seems to blend current reality with recent memory, thus bringing us face to face with certain forgotten facts. Art activism, one has to say, offers a rare opportunity to change the attitude of individuals and society at large. It is a legitimate task of fine arts, and one that I find particularly laudable. Al-Tarawi goes for abstraction in his compositions, offering shapes that seem devoid of detail, but there is a quest for structure that comes with every touch of his brush. Nature, albeit abstract, comes to life in his work, with dark turning to light and colours accentuated to saturation. The figures he creates are assertive and proud, comfortable in their realm of alternative reality. In its current incarnation, Salon Masr proves that creativity is not a function of age. The art experience of the young artists may be short, but it is neither shallow nor lacking in inspiration.
