Egyptian artist’s exhibition wows visitors

Hafez Gallery in Jeddah launched this Wednesday a solo art exhibition by the Egyptian artist, Ibrahim El Dessouki, under the title “Synchronizing light and shadow.”
The artist's work left many visitors in awe at the strength and deepness of the exhibited art.
His work will be on display until Jan. 14, 2015, and will showcase the artist's most seminal works.
El Dessouki is renowned for his unique style and distinctive choice of subject, and for skillfully capturing the spirit of modern day Egypt.
The exhibit's main attraction featured an archetypal Egyptian woman, with classical ancient Egyptian features.
El Dessouki delves even further into the sacred visual landscape of ancient Egypt with his paintings, which far from being ordinary architectural representations, hum with mystical energy.
The columns cast shadows that place the site firmly across the threshold of two worlds, one set in darkness, the other in light.
“The structures of the painting appear monumental and tremendous, which will make the viewer feel tiny in comparison, although the paintings are in reality no larger than human-size,” El Dessouki pointed out, talking about his work.
“This is my first solo exhibition in Saudi Arabia and to be here with all of the art lovers is amazing. As the title goes, I have used shadows in my paintings to create the perfect harmony between light and darkness. They do not battle in the paintings, instead they revolve, engage and play. My work shows the state of dream before wakefulness, the imagination before the rational, and the soul before the body,” he added.
The exhibition also features environmental painting, which can be divided into two domains, outdoors and indoors.
El Dessouki’s indoor compositions are made of carefully selected arrangement of everyday objects, whereas the outdoor pictures are eye-catching landscape paintings and drawings, all of them peaceful and natural.
The two environments work together to reveal both the visual and the social landscape of Egypt today, via the artist’s unique perspective.
Qaswra Hafez, founder of the Hafez Gallery said: “I have seen all the paintings and appreciate El Dessouki’s artwork. His painting successfully treads that precarious thin line, neither completely conforming to tradition, nor completely rebelling against it.”