With revolutions come great expressions and art is the result. Egyptians have been bursting with creativity since the days of the ancient pharaohs, and the current artists have been honing their craft in the last few years with built up frustrations, fear, and now frivolity. These ideas have exploded onto the walls of Egypt. Before, Egypt’s more focused art has been restricted to the canvas, though every once and a while “graffiti” is seen in text form, a little less organized. Today you can see the influences of Banksy, Shepard Fairy and other street artists emerging on every corner, especially with Cairo’s own Karim Kaiser. Stencils, free-hand murals and still the traditional and nontraditional canvases grace the cities walls, sidewalks and bridges. In my recent visits, I’ve seen Zamalek as an artists hub. Embracing artists and art galleries, this area of Egypt has been known to be fertile for outside ideas to bloom. Today a gallery, cleverly named “The Gallery,” has an exhibition on collages, “Collage: 100 years On,” a new display of work featuring a style of art rarely shown in Cairo, broadening Egypt’s artist range.
The Arabesque style and classics still have a spot on the walls of Cairo. While working with Shorouk newspaper, I had the great pleasure of meeting and photographing Mr. Helmi El Touni, a well known artist known for integrating politically charged meaning into his pieces. Below are a few examples of his work along with the portrait published in the paper.
Cairo Galleries
http://www.thetownhousegallery.com/
http://www.picassoartgallery-egypt.com/
http://www.lesoukegypt.com/
http://www.zamalekartgallery.com/
