In progress:
In the absence of shock
Adly Rizkallah was born in Abnub Al-Hamam, Assiut in 1939. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in 1961. For several years he lived in Paris and was briefly director of the Egyptian Cultural Centre there before returning to Cairo in 1980. Rizkallah specialises in watercolours. His many projects have included collaborations with Edwar El-Kharrat whose Ta'wilat and Ma'iyyat Adli Rizkallah were inspired by the latter's paintings. He has written and illustrated numerous stories for children. In 1999 he published his memoirs Al-Wusul Ila Al-Bidaya fi Al-Fann wa Al-Hayat (Arriving at the Beginning in Art and Life, GEBO). He has recently established the gallery 5+5 at 8 Talaat Harb Sq, Downtown.
The past six months or so I have busy with 5+5: A Painting and A Book. In our cultural environment one learns art and literature after graduating from university.
I offer 5+5 firstly to Salah Taher. When he was the director of the Museum of Modern Art in the 1960s they had a gathering every Wednesday; on my right would be the philosopher Zaki Naguib Mahmoud and on my left professor of philosophy Youssef Murad. The first seminar I ever attended had Tawfik Hanna introducing the poet Malak Abdel- Aziz at the Atelier du Caire, in the early 1960s. And so I grew up in a "cultural laboratory". I've always liked to have cultural activities accompanying my exhibitions. I truly believe that when paintings listen to poetry, they glimmer.
5+5 springs out of this makeup. It is a space downtown that offers an artistic and cultural atmosphere in the face of the lie of imported mawalid and festivals, which we do not need; things that merely emulate the West. I am against importing superficial culture under the claim that this is interaction with the West.
Our city, our streets, our lives are themselves noisy mawalid. When we want people to stop we have to offer them a quiet place, give them a chance to think. This is the opposite of a Western city, for example, which is ordered to the degree where holding a moulid in the street is at the very heart of the artist's game.
I'll tell you a story. When I first moved to Paris I went out to hang the laundry on the balcony. But the concierge came up to me and explained this was forbidden. I looked at all the buildings on our street, there was not a single piece of laundry. When a European artist makes an installation of laundry hanging on a balcony he is creating artistic shock. But when I saw an Egyptian artist doing the same thing in a Biennale here I laughed. There is no shock in it at all.
The book we have on display this month is Yves Peyré's Peinture et poésie: Le dialogue par le livre (Gallimard, 2001). It is a history of "dialogue books" between painters and poets, from 1876 on. It is here so people can read it and discuss it. This is interaction with Western culture. Culture is not fashionable trends catering to a certain public.
Every month 5+5 selects a book that represents something serious about Western culture. And we're not limited to Western literature. We are presenting the books of Badr El-Dib and issues of the new periodical Shi'r (Poetry). We add items one by one to the collection. So now there is an exhibition of my works but also there are works by Shalabiya Ibrahim which were in the first exhibition. We're trying to give this space a distinctive character.
We have a weekly gathering every Tuesday at 7.30pm. Last week we were discussing new prose poetry, Karim Abdel-Salam and Yasser El- Zayyat and others were there -- young poets who shared beautiful colloquial poetry that enchanted me, so unlike the poets of podiums. They made my day more beautiful and I felt enriched as I went home. We discuss such issues as art appreciation: how to see a painting, architecture as a way to knowledge, music. We aim at cultural animation in this place. The gallery is not commercial in that it's not made to decorate the homes of the rich. Each exhibition remains two to two and a half months. We are now preparing for a group exhibition of young artists in August.
A generous engineer offered us this space, part of his offices, overlooking Talaat Harb Sq. We couldn't dream of a better place. Downtown has always been the centre of culture in Cairo. The old museum of modern art was downtown, the atelier is downtown, so is Café Riche. And downtown is also the target of this contrived/fake artistic movement -- a movement of adventurers and entrepreneurs.
5+5 has been keeping me busy. The only painting I finished in months is "No". But I have no regrets. I'm a hard worker, and every now and then I can afford to take some time off.
I think about it simply. If it was not for this place there are many young people whom I would not have met. The place is thus making up for the lost time by allowing me other enriching experiences.
I am also working on children's books. There is the educational series Tamr for children aged three to five. The publisher can't distribute them properly. So I framed the illustrations of the books and arranged with an NGO for a travelling exhibition that would go to various nurseries and schools. The hope is that some parents will be impressed and want to buy the series for their children.
I write stories that parents should read and then tell -- as opposed to read -- to their children. They deal with many crucial issues: love, death, deprivation, even how a dictator is created. They all inspire love of life and a desire to have a role and a meaning. I am currently finishing three new stories, to be published by Asala, a new Lebanese publishing house.
My world is a mix of many things. I feel that life is beautiful to the extent that one has to live it with endless passion. I was recently telling my friend Tarek El-Bishri, during the war, that I didn't have the luxury of depression. I thought about it and realised that I had paid my dues. I am not ready to become depressed because I am doing what I have to do. One should do something every day; plant a tree, draw a painting, write a page in a book, write an article, face a wrong. What is more beautiful than life? Yes, there's cruelty in it. But you should also envy yourself for being in this world. We live in a world that has developed a lot. We save our lives by the actual act of doing.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 12 - 18 June 2003 (Issue No. 642)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/642/cu2.htm