THIS month, the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo has come up with a surprise for visitors, who are usually interested in seeing centuries-old antiquities, by hosting an exhibition of the works of contemporary Spanish artists Asuncion Jodar Minarro and Ricardo Marin Viadel. The exhibition, which opened on February 8 and is entitled ‘Drawings of the Time: Impressions from Edfu Temple', comprises 100 drawings and paintings, inspired by the paintings of the thirty-one priests on the walls of the west staircase of the Temple of Edfu. "The exhibition is the fruit of nearly five years of work," says Ricardo, one of the two artists, recalling how the idea came to them when they were visiting Edfu Temple in 2005 and Asuncion called to him to come and see the staircase on one side of the temple with the pictures of the priests on the walls, as if they were descending the stairs. "The drawings brought to my mind the famous painting 'Nude descending a Staircase' by French artist Marcel Duchamp. This painting is a modernist classic. 'Then I thought of producing modern art inspired by the old artists who painted the priests," adds Ricardo, who, along with Asuncion, has made more than 300 sketches inspired by the pictures in Edfu Temple, of which only 100 are being exhibited. The artists describe their work …quot; pictures of 31 priestly figures …quot; as a blend of art and documentation, combing individual creativity with the tradition of sketching ancient sites. "The drawings and paintings employ colours normally found in Pharaonic art, but deviating in a few ways. Since the original colours have disappeared from the walls, we've had to guess what would have been there," say the artists. "There were restrictions on Pharaonic artists, but the artists who painted the priests made some subtle differences in portraying the priests, which suggests they were painting real people." The artists describe their exhibition as a meeting between ancient and contemporary art. They imagine that the priests from the Temple of Horus in Edfu have travelled to Cairo, where they're staying for two months in rooms 50,49, 45, 40, 35, 30 and 25 of the Egyptian Museum (which exhibit artifacts from the final period of the Pharaonic civilisation, the era when the temple was built). The Temple of Horus in Edfu (also known as the Temple of Edfu) is considered the best-preserved cult temple in Egypt. It was built in the Ptolemaic era from 237 to 57 BC. It exactly reflects traditional Pharaonic architecture and so provides an excellent idea of how all the temples once looked. With this show, the Egyptian Museum follows the likes of other significant international counterparts, which have welcomed numerous collections of contemporary art into their rooms. The exhibition, ‘Drawings of the Time: Impressions from Edfu Temple', runs until April 8 in the Egyptian Museum. Later, it will move to Granada, Spain, in three locations simultaneously. The exhibition in the Egyptian Museum has been jointly organised by the Cervantes Institute in Cairo, the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt and the University of Granada. The Cervantes Institute in Cairo has marked the event by commissioning a new stained-glass window designed by Asuncion and made in Spain, depicting scenes for the priests descending the staircase. The window has already been installed in the institute. “Drawing of the Time... ” Exhibition runs till April 8.
