“…I paint what I live, what I see and experience in my everyday life and from my rich tradition and cultural heritage. I live in a poor neighborhood in Alexandria, where all houses are stuck together and everybody knows everybody else . My canvases are filled with these crowds going by their daily business. The watermelon vendor in one painting comes from Upper Egypt every summer to sell his produce, the tea lady who puts up the radio volume at 6 am lives in the floor below me. I paint their feasts (moulids), picnics, zars (an exorcism ritual), their mourning rituals, and their legends like the 19 Storm legends that flourish in my city by the sea. In my neighbourhood most people believe in magic and legends I am greatly influenced by the ancient Coptic art, which was always depicting light coming from people. They are stunted from stress and life’s hardships but they are content with the little they have and just go on. They look at you from all angles and often up to the sky to the God they pray to save them from their miseries….”
Personal Data
1955 Born in Alexandria, Egypt
Education
1980 B.Sc. Fine Arts, Alexandria University
1986 Diploma of Fine Arts, Helwan University, Cairo
1986 Masters Degree Philosophy of Arts, Helwan University, Cairo
1991 PhD, Philosophy of Arts, Helwan University, Cairo
Collections
- Private collection of: Dr. Said Farsi - Tony Ashbaa - Aida Fahmy - Sameh Fikry Makram Ebeid - Dr. Ahmed El Sader - Naguib Sawiris - Dr. Farouk Hosny - Dr. Mohamed Awad- Sheikh Sultan Al Kasmi.
- Public collection of Alexandria Spanish Culture Center and Consulate
- Public collection of Alexandria French Cultural Center
Exhibitions and Participations
2012 Part of a Collective Exhibition at The Four Season at the First Residence Hotel, Giza, Egypt.
2011 Mojo Gallery Dubai
2004 French Center “les Memoires de Guirguis”
2002 Alexandria Center of Arts “Dalafa Wagad”
2001 Cairo Atelier, “Storm 2”
1999 Museum of Fine Arts “The Storm”
1998 French Cultural Museum “Rizk”
1988 Spanish Cultural Center
1997 Hanager Expo “Moulid Lovers”
1996 “Wooden Horse “, Meniat El Nasr Culture Center “Conversation of Clay”
1992 Faculty of Fine Arts, Zamalek “Coptic Art”
1991 Kandil Hall
Spanish Center
1989 St Marc, El Horreya Center
1989 Faculty of Fine Arts, Zamalek