Numerous paintings, various artistic trends and affordable prices are what make the Shadicor Art Gallery, in Heliopolis, northeastern Cairo, which opened 11 years ago, so popular. ‘Art for All Families', an exhibition which opened at the gallery last Saturday, is also proving very popular. Each year, Shadicor's owner, artist Adel Sabit, holds an exhibition. Around 100 artists are taking part in the current exhibition, selling their works for a modest profit, thereby making them affordable to the general public. "I would like to see the works of these artists in every Egyptian home," Sabit said. "Our homes are sorely in need of the artistic touch," he told The Gazette in an interview. Pushing alongside Sabit for the universality of art are important artists such as George Bahgouri, Hassan Sharq, Adli Rezqallah and many others, who dream of refining what they call "the general taste of the public". Sanaa Borhan, a bank clerk turned artist, is one of the artist in the exhibition. This lady spent the prime of her life in the midst of banknotes and financial documents, but art seems to have won in the end. "I love drawing flowers and landscapes. I adore flowers," Borhan said. "I feel closer to them than humans.” The exhibition hall is beautiful in its own right, with exquisite decorations, suitable for all Egyptian families to visit. Nagwa Mahdi, who has been designing jewellery for ten years now, is a member of the Cairo Art Guild. She has studied design to degree level, but more importantly she has been trained by traditional master craftsmen in Egypt. "Stones talk to me and silver sings," Nagwa said. "I feel an irresistible attraction to raw stones and crystals with their natural beauty.” The exhibition, which runs until April 10, is open from 11am to 2pm and from 6pm to 9pm, except on Sundays. Shadicor Art Gallery: 214 (end of) el-Hegaz St., Heliopolis.
