Ahmed El Askalany | |
Ahmed El Askalany | |
Adel El Siwi | |
Adel El Siwi | |
In this day and age of "cut and paste" and "buy and sell", where a lot of art has become confused with commodity, the Egyptian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale comes as an extraordinary revelation and a stark reminder of what true art once was. Two artists, twenty-seven years apart, Adel El Siwi and Ahmed El Askalany, have crafted and created the theme for this year's Pavilion.
"Lightly Monumental" is a narrative of glorious things past, of a staggering heritage and the weight of bearing it in the present in the face of total geopolitical and socio-economic decadence. It is about little miracles of day-to-day life in spite of the confusion and chaos that blind us; it is a gesture and a song; a hymn to those who still believe that life can be reinvented, everyday, even in a grain of sand.
Upon stepping into the Pavilion the viewer is greeted by eight monumental figures by Askalany akin to deities welcoming us into a sacred temple, the backdrop walls of which bear the "frescoes" by El-Siwi.
Both artists have laboriously executed their "oeuvre"; the former, stitch after stitch of one concentric ring over another, the latter, layer over layer of paper, cloth and paint.
Both techniques are reminiscent of latter day crafts created by artisans totally absorbed and proud of their achievments. These techniques in themselves bear the metaphor at hand; rhythm and repetition not only mark movement but also the flow and passage of time and are in themselves therapeutic and cathartic exercises.
The temporal dimension is emphasized by the upward structural progression. Both sculptures and paintings are monumentally big and recall the "little people" who built gigantic and great things. Thousands of years on and these magnificient historical creations still watch over us unmoved by earthquakes and the tides of change.
Askalany's ascending concentric rhythm of woven patterns allows the viewer to experience the genesis and unfolding of history, stretching out and upwards towards celestial perfection. The work also embodies a unification of a variety of opposing elements - old and new, sad and happy, serious and funny, peaceful and chaotic.
El-Siwi creates carefully graded values of light and dark. He uses tonal chromas found in Egyptian nature by adding and reworking layer upon layer of the simplest materials at hand - paper, paint and cloth. The narrative element reflects the banalities and the beauty of everyday life with its strife and joys, tears and laughter; witty, playful and ironic in its duality. We see the bread vendor on his bicycle, a witty metaphor of the Arabic expression "Akl el Eish" which literally translates into "our daily bread"; the most fundamental element of "il cibo",as the Italians would say. And yet, the message is that dualism should not be treated as such but simply as "the sum of all parts", and it is only then that we can truthfully and clearly understand all these elements.
The ability and dexterity of both artists at using a few basic elements to construct an oeuvre of this magnitude cannot fail to stir and emotionally engage us.
Askalany's amazing expressivity contains the energy of childlike innocence and yet it is as pure and simple as a folk song. His statues are not boisterous or exuberant, but attention to subtleties like the ascending curve of their spines and gentle gaze and "nod" of the head in the absence of facial features almost brings them back to life. El-Siwi's larger than life paintings not only provide a symphonic backdrop but act as if they were a higher consciousness or a deity caring and watching over its flock.
All and all, the Pavillion is a visual delight. It is art purified from all earthly and material trappings, a representation in the purest manner possible for the sake of achieving the highest goal. No person summed it up better than Wassily Kandinsky when he said: "The creation of a work of art is the creation of a world'"
Adel El Siwi was born in Beheira in Egypt in 1952. After completing an MA in psychiatry he decided to abandon medicine and dedicate himself fully to painting. He spent ten years living in Italy, and returned to Egypt where he currently lives and works. He has taken part in several international exhibitions namely "Memories and Modernity" at the 1997's Venice Biennale; "Italia-Arabia" at the Chelsea Art Museum, NY; "Transafrican Art" at the Orlando Museum of Modern Art; "World into Art" at the British Museum in London; and The Cairo Biennale in 2008.
Ahmed Askalany was born in Qena, Egypt in 1979. He is a self-taught artist living and working in Cairo.
He is a prolific artist and exhibits locally and internationally.
Maie Yanni |
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Maie Yanni qualified as a medical doctor in the UK and specialised in Anesthesia & Intensive Care and High-risk Obstetric Anesthesia. In 2000 she took a sabbatical from medical practice and has since then being project managing art and design ventures. She currently represents and promotes unknown Sudanese artists to give them international recognition and visibility. She lives in Cairo.
