LIGHT gives us life. It has a great impact on our feelings, recharging our batteries, enabling us to work. Like light, shade can be beautiful too. Professor Mohamed Shaker, in his exhibition entitled ‘Dibo Shades', says that shade is in fact more beautiful than light. "Shade indicates Sufism, deliberation, wisdom, reverence and fear, especially as everything begins and ends with shade," Shaker, 63, told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview. Shaker graduated from the painting Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Alexandria University, 1976. That was followed by a Master's in "Mural Painting and Arts related to Architecture", from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Alexandria University, in 1982 and then a PhD on the “Environmental Impact of Mural Painting Techniques in Egypt", in 1987. Alexandria has had a great impact on Shaker's feelings and soul. Most of his paintings are inspired by the city's beautiful nature, history and heritage. His passion for Alexandria appears clearly in many of his paintings in the exhibition being held at the Picasso Gallery in Zamalek. One of them, which he painted in 1998, employs the technique of oil on wood, depicting the sky and the full moon with its rays, reflected in the Mediterranean, while Alexandria appears in the distance. In another painting, an oil on canvas, you see a mass of green colour of various shades, but, if you stand back a little, you see plants swaying in the breeze. Another of his wonderful paintings is of ruins in the desert, which look like old prayer niches, with the rays of the sun playing on them. "I have a passion for forgotten things. This painting tells us about the sun coming every morning to former Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Alexandria University. The exhibition is his 44th. His exhibitions have all been solo, either local or international.It was inaugurated by Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Rashid Mohamed Rashid and many arts lovers, famous painters and other VIPs have been to admire his paintings. "The significance of every painting is very clear to visitors,” says 66-years old Nezar Sabri, son of late Egyptian artist Ahmed Sabri (1889- 1955). "Every painting tells a tale." ‘Dibo Shades', by Mohamed Shaker, is being held at the Picasso Art Gallery, 30 Hassan Assem St., off Brazil St., Zamalek. It's open daily from 10:30am to 9pm until tomorrow. (Tel: 2736-7544).
