Paintings
Video
TEXT
In 2018 I painted "Landscapes" a collection of works featuring desert landscapes under starry skies, where men gathered fossils and women played with the stars.
In 2019, I embarked on the "Garden" series; Because I reside in Egypt, these gardens shared a deeply peculiar trait: they were surrounded by the desert.
Still immersed in this theme, I traveled to Iran in 2020. There, I encountered the Persian garden . New elements emerged in my painted gardens such as the pond, the pavilion, cypress trees, pomegranates... Notably, the garden's protective wall formed a perfect metaphor for our pandemic pervaded times, reflecting the need for spaces where beauty and harmony can flourish, sheltered from an aggressive world.
I painted these pictures in the wake of Joan Miró and his famous painting La Masía, whose every component is represented in minute detail. Indeed, Miró argued that in nature an ant is equally important as a mountain
The pandemic broke out during my stay in Iran. It has configured our lives and also, in part, the way we paint.
I paint slowly, not only because of technical constraints (oil on canvas), but for conceptual reasons. Sensing the paintings' life, allowing them to mature by my side in their own time, gives me great happiness. When possible, they accompany me on my travels between Egypt and Barcelona as I continue to work on them. Clearly, location determines their evolution.
To complete the cycle of paintings on the Persian garden, I must therefore move to Iran. I intend to use a twofold approach while working there.
1-First, I will bring along seemingly completed "Persian garden" paintings, produced abroad, from memory. Once in Iran, I will start working on them again while noting any shifts and changes. I might add new elements or remove others, while recording such transformations minutely. This could be achieved by adding labels next to the new elements indicating their date and location. A caption regarding a change in color or morphology might be positioned next to existing elements. Any alteration must be recognizable.
2- Portable Paintings :The second approach would enable me to circumvent the pandemic-related travel restrictions and hinderances through the notion of fragmented gardens. In this "fragmented gardens" approach, the canvas would be replaced by A4 papers assembled as a mosaic.(as seen in the video) This technique would allow paintings to cover large surfaces, yet remain easy to disassemble and place in a folder for transportation or storage.
On another note, both resorting to paper instead of a canvas and the paintings' fragmentation represent our present fragility, and beyond, the inherent fragility of life.
In 2019, I embarked on the "Garden" series; Because I reside in Egypt, these gardens shared a deeply peculiar trait: they were surrounded by the desert.
Still immersed in this theme, I traveled to Iran in 2020. There, I encountered the Persian garden . New elements emerged in my painted gardens such as the pond, the pavilion, cypress trees, pomegranates... Notably, the garden's protective wall formed a perfect metaphor for our pandemic pervaded times, reflecting the need for spaces where beauty and harmony can flourish, sheltered from an aggressive world.
I painted these pictures in the wake of Joan Miró and his famous painting La Masía, whose every component is represented in minute detail. Indeed, Miró argued that in nature an ant is equally important as a mountain
The pandemic broke out during my stay in Iran. It has configured our lives and also, in part, the way we paint.
I paint slowly, not only because of technical constraints (oil on canvas), but for conceptual reasons. Sensing the paintings' life, allowing them to mature by my side in their own time, gives me great happiness. When possible, they accompany me on my travels between Egypt and Barcelona as I continue to work on them. Clearly, location determines their evolution.
To complete the cycle of paintings on the Persian garden, I must therefore move to Iran. I intend to use a twofold approach while working there.
1-First, I will bring along seemingly completed "Persian garden" paintings, produced abroad, from memory. Once in Iran, I will start working on them again while noting any shifts and changes. I might add new elements or remove others, while recording such transformations minutely. This could be achieved by adding labels next to the new elements indicating their date and location. A caption regarding a change in color or morphology might be positioned next to existing elements. Any alteration must be recognizable.
2- Portable Paintings :The second approach would enable me to circumvent the pandemic-related travel restrictions and hinderances through the notion of fragmented gardens. In this "fragmented gardens" approach, the canvas would be replaced by A4 papers assembled as a mosaic.(as seen in the video) This technique would allow paintings to cover large surfaces, yet remain easy to disassemble and place in a folder for transportation or storage.
On another note, both resorting to paper instead of a canvas and the paintings' fragmentation represent our present fragility, and beyond, the inherent fragility of life.