The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

As a sophisticated hub encouraging the promotion of contemporary art and providing a luring and versatile environment for artists and the public, Zamalek Art Gallery is currently hosting  ‘Masterpieces XIV’ – the 2015 edition of its annual summer exhibition, featuring an exquisite collection of paintings and sculptures.    

‘Masterpieces XIV’ brings together the works of several Egyptian artists who have previously held solo exhibitions within the premises, including Adel Tharwat who had  his exhibition  ‘Passion Offerings’ in May this year, and  Adel Moustafa, who recently exhibited ‘Out Of the Box’ and Rabab Nemr with her  exquisite ‘Helwa Ya Baladi. 

An enormous piece by Cairo-born artist, George Fikry Ibrahim, was the first artwork we came across. The colors of the piece are bloody, aggressive and the drawings on the painting resembled an unidentifiable creature with many heads.

In contrast to Ibrahim’s paintings, Khalid Sorour offers art- appreciators a simpler and more colourful perspective, with his large, acrylic paintings. With vivid cartoonish characters and imageries portraying innocent children, Sorour focuses on dreams, capturing life through the eyes of children before falling into the rules and hardships of civilization.

Perhaps ‘Fisherman’ by Gamal El Sagini is one of the pieces that particularly stood out. Created using oil on wood, the painting seems to dance through the colours it uses. El Sagini also has two more beautiful pieces within this exhibition, one created using mixed media with small pieces of glass and ceramics fixated to a painted canvas, while the second is of Cleopatra, crafted with sandy shades behind a strong and powerful stance.

The exhibit also showcased captivating sculpture pieces, including Mostafa Abdel Moity and Kamal El-Feky’s bold, figurative bronze statues.  

Several Cairo galleries have amalgamated previous exhibitions for summer showings, but few are quite as eclectic as Zamalek Art Gallery’s. ‘Masterpieces XIV’ features a vast variety of styles, engaging artistic visions and inspiring ideas; every angle of the gallery has something exciting to offer. The overall variety is what makes this showing delightful, intriguing and appealing to a wider audience.