The artistry of youth

Working with one's hands and the mind's eye constitutes a space of freedom youth in particular appreciates, writes Ossama Alserwy*

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Work by artist Mona Mohammed Gharib; work by artist Taha Hussain Musad El-Ghabashi

A plastic artist is someone who thinks through his hands, moulding or modulating the material he uses to put into shape an idea or notion and to turn imagination into material reality. The ideas may be a transient and fleeting thought that flashes and vanishes sometimes even before being grasped by the artist himself. This may explain why artists are sometimes distracted or absent-minded. When the artist, however, recovers from this transient state and recedes from the people around him to be on his own, he picks up his tools and starts thinking through his hands to turn the visual image in his mind into an art form that embodies the real and imaginary.

In his primitive ages, man recognised the world around him through groping and touching, using finger language to acquire experience and knowledge. It is this knowledge that, later on, put man on the road to civilisation. Thinking through one's hands is an experimentation technique young plastic artists rely on more than any. It allows a wider space of freedom that youth aspire to and is their motivating force for innovation -- the ultimate end of art itself. In this way, art comes to epitomise life in a symbolic way, so long as it is performed in an unrestricted atmosphere of freedom and individual expression.

It is through this perspective that one can view the works of some young artists in Egypt as they explore their experiences and present their visions for art. Yet young plastic artists in Egypt today did not start from scratch, given that the year 2008 marks the centenary of the School of Fine Arts that was established in 1909. More than ever there is now increased openness to the art world through cyberspace. There is also an increase in cultural events organised around various forms of art, such as the Salon of Youth, the National Pride Forum, the Sculpture on Granite Symposium held in Aswan, and the biennales of Cairo, Alexandria and Port Said, not to mention the marked increase in art halls and galleries, all of which remove the barriers and boundaries existing between artists around the world, and provide young artisans with the freedom to innovate and be open to various techniques of art.

Young artist Mohammed Hamed El-Bezra presents a fine ceramic vase of 42x23 centimetres dimension made of Aswanian clay. Born in 1980, he exemplifies the above-mentioned open and inspiring environment in which his talent was sown and nurtured. He applies the technique of touch and compression to introduce a range of variations on the surface of the vase, a technique that is best suited to display the expression he wanted to convey based on a pre-conceived idea in his mind. The artist resorted to a symbolic technique to express the current state of wars and disputes prevalent in the world through invoking the figure of a woman and a bird as two symbols of peace trying to combine them into one integrated whole. He designed the basic form of the vase to suit the expression he wanted to convey, trying to depart from the traditional forms of vases to give it a more free and expressive shape. He applied the technique of touch to give prominence to his expressive elements.

Hamed is the holder of a bachelor's degree in fine arts education from Helwan University and works as an assistant teacher in the Department of Sculpture and Ceramics in the same college. He is also the recipient of several prizes conferred by various art forums organised by Helwan University.

Young artist Alaa Abul-Magd Abdel-Satar, born in 1979, introduces us to another fine work of Pectoral art through which he presents the emotional relationship between man and woman by dividing the portrait into almost two parts, with a woman on the right side offering a rose to the man. He displays the face of the woman from a side view, with her shoulders facing us -- a typical way of portraying women by ancient Egyptian artists -- while the man places his left hand on his heart and looks across the horizon in peace and tranquillity. The portrait reflects a sense of quiet solemnity, a distinctive feature of the traditions of ancient Egyptian art.

Alaa Abul-Magd holds a bachelor's degree in fine arts and works as an instructor in the Faculty of Fine Arts in Luxor. He participates in the Salon of Youth and exhibitions of the teaching staff of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Luxor.

In the area of sculpture, we have a work of art designed by the young artist Taha Hussain Musad El-Ghabashi, 32. He introduces a metallic work of art in the shape of a fish in a state of movement while maintaining its equilibrium amid the modulations of the sea, thus making a plastic rhythm of tranquillity and silence.

Taha Hussain holds a bachelor's degree in specific education from Mansoura University and a master's degree from Cairo University. He has participated in public exhibitions and the Salon of Youth since graduation.

In the area of sculpture, we also introduce the young female artist Mona Mohammed Gharib, 24, through a symbolic work of art that deals with the elements of a woman, a pigeon and a branch of olive. Gharib works as an instructor in the Faculty of Fine Arts and participates in regular exhibitions. She is the recipient of many prizes and certificates of appreciation.

In the area of graphics, we introduce the young artist Ahmed Rezq Barakat, 24, through a surrealist work of art that reflects the strange world in which he searches for the human being who is lost in the midst of alienation and the rubble and crowdedness of life. Rezq holds a bachelor's degree in specific education from Fayoum University.

* The writer is assistant professor of plastic art in the Faculty of Artistic Education at Helwan University.