CAIRO - With a variety of colours, lines, words and even numbers, you don't just enjoy looking at the lovely paintings, as you can listen to them too. In the Art and Music Exhibition, which was inaugurated last Wednesday in the Gezira Art Centre, you can see symphonies and listen to the lovely melodies of around 60 paintings by 12 different artists. “These paintings make a special kind of music," says Amira Samaha, a 47- year-old visitor to the exhibition and a huge art fan, while touring round the atelier, with its walls covered in paintings. “I can see why they put the two themes together. Most of the paintings have a musical edge.” The paintings in ‘Art and Music' portray very different levels and interpretations of the relationship between art and music. In some paintings, you can easily spot a violin or a guitar and in others, there are some musical symbols, while the word ‘music' is written in Arabic in others. In some of the other paintings, there are no visual musical signs; they're just there in spirit. For Amira, the paintings with clearly visible musical instruments or symbols are more closely related to the theme of the exhibition, which includes works by artists of different ages and outlooks. Still, there are a lot of very special pieces that don't give away any obvious clues about the art-music relationship, like the ones by Egyptian Professor of Art Ayman el-Semary. To draw a tune In el-Semary's works, you sense the graduation in colours, texture and figures, enabling you to feel the music which has inspired him. “I was inspired by a number of symphonies like Verdi's Opera Aida and The Eternal River [‘Al-Nahr Al- Khaled'] by Mohamed Abdel-Wahab,” el-Semary told The Mail in an interview on the sidelines of the opening of the exhibition. "I listened to these symphonies, lived with them and then put them into my paintings." El-Semary uses paper coated with sand and limestone, to create a very deep, touchy and serene piece of work. Still, not every one can see the musical side of his paintings. "That's why it's called abstract art," el- Semary explained. "Because only very few people can see it clearly. In addition to that, what I present here is how I personally think these symphonies should be expressed as paintings." What characterises the work of this artist, a professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts, are the colours he uses. El-Semary has always been concerned with his choices of colours. "I've always been searching for the colours you can see in the paintings on the walls. They come with time," he said, describing them as "colours with a time effect". El-Semary presents a number of these 'time-stained' colours in this exhibition. What a group exhibition means The 'Art and Music' exhibition represents artists of different ages, experiences and backgrounds, which could be the reason why you feel impressed by each of the collections. The participating artists include Khaled Sami, Mohamed Rezq, May Refky, Marwa Adel and Reham Rezq. "Here, you can find numerous ideas," Reham, an artist participating in the exhibition, told this newspaper. "From direct paintings to abstract ones, I try to represent my ideas and my generation," added the 33-yearold artist. This isn't the first time for Reham to take part in a group exhibition or to work on the art-music theme; but it's quite different for her this time. "I feel I'm more mature than at any previous exhibition. Furthermore, working in a group exhibition this size– with many professional artists of different ages – helps us learn a lot." If you go to the 'Art and Music' exhibition, you too can search for the music in each piece. The 'Art and Music' exhibition, being held at the Gezira Art Centre, 1 el- Marsafy St., Zamalek, (2737-3298), runs till February 7.
