GUIRGUIS LOTFY - EXHIBITION CATALOGUE

G U I R G U I S

L O T F Y

H e y a D i M a s r Y a A b l a !

1 6 A p r i l – 7 M a y 2 0 1 3

Founded in 2010, ArtTalks is an educa0onal,

advisory and exhibi0on space in Egypt in support

of Egyp0an Modern and Contemporary Visual Arts. Our two-­‐fold objec0ve is to be a forum for knowledge and a search engine for Egypt’s next genera0on of contemporary ar0sts.

Our commitment, as we struggle to find answers regarding our na0onal iden0ty, is to protect unequivocally the freedom to create, to mentor and exhibit highly talented young ar0sts and to expose art lovers to outstanding contemporary art from the Middle-­‐East.

Part of ArtTalks’ income is reinvested into an Art Fund “Hassala” with the objec0ve of suppor0ng talented yet struggling ar0sts and publishing books on selec0ve late and living ar0sts.

ArtTalks | Arts Educa0on & Exhibi0on | Cairo Viewing: April 16, 2013 at 6pm Runs through to May 7th, 2013 For all enquiries, please contact: Lisa Lounis: lisa@arYalks.org -­‐ +201003970141 General Informa0on: info@arYalks.org www.arYalks.com -­‐ +201005550585

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Guirguis Lo@y

Born in 1955, Guirguis Locy lives and works in Alexandria, Egypt.

Ader receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Alexandria Faculty of Fine Arts in 1980, Locy went on to receive a diploma in 1986 , then a Masters Degree on “Cop0c Pain0ng from the 4th to the 8th Century” in 1990. Finally in 1994, he was awarded a PhD on “Cop0c Art and its influence on Modern Art” from the Cairo Faculty of Fine Arts. Hamed Owais (1919-­‐2011) and Hamed Nada (1924-­‐1990), two of Egypt’s pivotal modern pioneer ar0sts, were closely involved at different stages in the supervision of Locy’s masters and doctorate degrees respec0vely. Guirguis Locy befriended them un0l their deaths.

Possessing an unparalleled wealth of knowledge on Egyp0an Cop0c art thanks to his extensive studies, Guirguis Locy embarked on a voyage to resuscitate that part of Egypt’s glorious past, with the aim of passing that knowledge along to future genera0ons, a testament of his passion and pride about his mul0-­‐cultural heritage. His deliberate choice in using long forgoYen elaborate and rich pain0ng techniques such as wax or tempera colors dissolved in egg yolk and gold leaf on treated wood is reminiscent of religious iconography and the famed Fayoum Portraits. This has undoubtedly enabled him to carve a dis0nct place in Egyp0an contemporary art.

His upbringing in a populous neighborhood in Alexandria, that s0ll believes in magic and folkloric legends, became his primary source of inspira0on.

He has described his ar0s0c process as literally looking out his window and pain0ng what he sees.

The apparent simplicity and naivety of his pain0ngs depic0ng every day mundane scenes captures the spirit, authen0city and religious tolerance of the average Egyp0an man in the street and reflects sincerity, insight and a deep reverence for the diversity of the Egyp0an culture. This thema0c choice combined with the use of elaborate old forgoYen pain0ng techniques from the Cop0c era can be seen as a symbol for a collec0ve cultural iden0ty.

Guirguis Locy truly brings the past into today to provide answers for a beYer tomorrow.

Pictures: Guirguis Lo/y with Hamed Owais (Top and Middle).with Esmat Daoustachi & Hamed Owais, Guirguis Lo/y in his home/atelier.

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Guirguis Lo@y said: "I am greatly influenced by the ancient Cop0c art, which was always depic0ng light coming from people. They are stunted from stress and life’s hardships but they are content with the liYle they have and just go on. They look at you from all angles and oden up to the sky to the God they pray to save them from their miseries….”

“In tempera (pain0ng technique) it’s impossible to retouch the paint. If I draw a three-­‐fingered man, he will have to remain that way.”

Hamed Owais, Modern Pioneer Painter, said: “If I give you (Guirguis Locy) a huge canvas, say 2m by 2m, you would s0ll have a crowd and it wouldn’t be enough for you”.

Esmat Daoustachi, art scholar and arLst, wrote: His (Guirguis Locy) body of work clearly shows that Guirguis Locy has reached ar0s0c mastery, using the stubborn, 0me-­‐consuming tempera and wax pain0ng techniques.

Mariam Hamdy, art criLc wrote: Guirguis Locy is an ar0st who has managed to pick up on that fingerprint and mould it to create his own. Having had his PhD supervised by the brilliant Hamed Nada, Guirguis Locy was well-­‐ equipped to create pain0ngs that are quite majes0c despite their mundane everyday subject maYer. Using egg tempera and gold leaf on wood, Locy stays true to his Cop0c roots, as well as further enhancing his iconographic approach to portraiture. All his characters and protagonists look like dwarfed saints, or more specifically, contemporary Fayoum portraits. The pain0ngs are quite a sight -­‐ beau0ful and mysterious depic0ons of everyday events that are weighed down by an incredible sadness.

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The Art of Eternity – The Mysterious Fayoum Portraits

Fatenn Mostafa, founder, ArtTalks| Egypt

Two thousand years before Picasso, arGsts in Egypt painted some of the most arresGng portraits in the history of art. Smithsonian Magazine

In 332 BC, Alexander the Great from Macedonia conquered Egypt and eventually, Egypt became part of the Roman Empire. Da0ng from the later period of Roman rule in Egypt, shortly before thebirth of Christ, a diverse community of Greeks, Egyp0ans, Romans, Syrians, Libyans, Nubians, and Jews flourished in a fer0le area called Fayoum in lower Egypt. These people, and many of their contemporaries throughout the Nile Valley, mummified the bodies of their dead and then placed over the faces, portraits painted on wooden panels or linen. These pain0ngs, today known as Fayoum, or mummy, portraits, were created to preserve the memory of each individual. A fusion of the tradi0ons of Pharaonic Egypt (believing in the ader-­‐life) and the Greek pain0ng techniques demonstrates the mul0cultural, mul0ethnic society of Roman Egypt.

The Fayoum portraits are by far the most important body of portraiture to have survived an0quity. Staring at us with intense, disturbing gazes, these men, women and children speak to us as if from the otherworld, transcending mortality and death. “The Fayum portraits have an almost disturbing lifelike quality and intensity” says Euphrosyne Doxiadis, the author of The Mysterious Fayum Portraits. Stephen Quirke, an Egyptologist at the Petrie museum in London, says the Fayoum pain0ngs may be equated with those of an old master—only they’re about 1,500 years older. Fayoum portraits are now generally thought of as a stylis0c, rather than a geographic, descrip0on.

Two groups of portraits can be dis0nguished by technique: one of encaus0c (wax) pain0ngs, the other in egg-­‐based tempera. Nearly 1,000 Fayoum pain0ngs exist in collec0ons in Egypt and at the Louvre in Paris, the Bri0sh and Petrie

museums in London, the Metropolitan and Brooklyn museums, the GeYy in California and elsewhere. They suffice to show that there was not only a school of art, but an art-­‐market, in this obscure liYle provincial town; the demand for portraiture being very considerable. From the 17th to the 19th century, many Western archaelogists started excava0ng in search for Fayoum portraits and took their finds back home either to museums or to private collec0ons, distributed by the global arts trade.

It is commonly accepted that produc0on of Fayoum portraits reduced considerably since the beginning of the 3rd century. However, the panel pain0ng tradi0on con0nued well into the tradi0on of Egyp0an Cop0c iconography as well as the Byzan0ne and the Western tradi0ons in the post Classical world.

Cop0c art is the art of the indigenous people of Egypt ader the great Pharaonic civiliza0on.

Cop0c art is the link between Pharaonic, Greco-­‐ Roman and Islamic art. The word Copt takes its origin from Kpt, which is the way Arabs pronounced the Greek word for Egypt, Aigyptos. So Copt originally had an exclusively geographic, and not a religious, meaning, par0cularly since Copts as a Chris0an sect dis0nct from the Roman church did not exist for the first 5 centuries of Chris0an history. In the 4th Century, Chris0anity became the official religion of Egypt. Following the Arab conquest in the 7th Century, Egypt converted to Islam. The tradi0ons of Fayoum portraits as well as Cop0c art are proud testaments of Ancient Egypt’s contribu0on to the art world. In contemporary Egypt, Guirguis Locy carries the torch of his predecessors. Pain0ng his neighbor (be him/her young or old, rich or poor, copt or muslim) by using techniques invented at a 0me when Egypt showed its highest level of tolerance towards co-­‐habita0on, Locy epitomizes the “ideal” Egypt we ought to be striving for.

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Fayoum Portrait Series, 2009 ٢۲٠۰٠۰٩۹ ،‫ﻓﻴﻮم ﺑﻮرﺗﺮﻳﺔ‬ Bee Wax on Wood Dimensions: 85 x 35cm

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My neighborhood, 2009 ٢۲٠۰٠۰٩۹ ،‫ اﳊﻰ اﻟﺬى أﺳﻜﻦ ﻓﻴﻪ‬

Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood Dimensions: 100 x 126cm

“…I paint what I live, what I see and experience in my everyday life and from my rich tradi0on and cultural heritage. I live in a poor neighborhood in Alexandria, where all houses are stuck together and everybody knows everybody else. My canvases are filled with these crowds going by their daily business.”

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The bakery of Love FD7G‫ ا‬4DH(

Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 100x126cm

"My pain0ng, done in a naïve Cop0c iconic style highlights the coming together of neighbors for a religious fes0val, regardless of religious creed, to bake the fes0val sweet cakes…so all can celebrate as one.”

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A night in Al Hussein, 2010 ٢٠١٠ ،JK72‫= ا‬L ‫ه‬+MN Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 122 x 200cm

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Heya di Masr ya Abla, 2008 ٢٠٠٨ ، !FCDE '& +A( ‫= دى‬0 Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 122 x 164cm

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Visit to the zoo, 2008

٢٠٠٨ ،‫ان‬%P72‫ ا‬B1&572 ‫ز&'ره‬ Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 100 x 122cm

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The Zoo, 2007 ٢٠٠٧ ،‫ان‬%P72‫ ا‬B1&5R Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 73 x 154cm

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El Mouled, 2010 Sobou3, 2012

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Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 127 x 153cm

Dimensions: 70x122cm

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Palm Sunday, 2008 ٢۲٠۰٠۰٨۸ ،‫ﺣﺪ اﻟﺰﻋﻒ‬

Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 80 x 122cm

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El Kabssa, 2009 ٢٠٠٩ ، FKD82‫ا‬ Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 70 x 122cm

The Kabssa legend has it that no man who has just shaved his beard or has just crossed a river is allowed to visit a woman who has just given birth, or else she wouldn’t be able to get pregnant again. The Kabssa ritual, performed ader the birth of a child, protects the woman.

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Fortune Teller BL‫ا‬+E

“In my neighborhood, every body believes in magic and legends up un0l today.”

Oil on Canvas dimensions: 125 x 125cm

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Fabrics merchant, 2013 ٢۲٠۰١۱٣۳ ،‫ﺳﻮق اﻟﻘﻤﺎش‬ Oil on Canvas dimensions: 200 x 122cm

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Fisherman’s Family, 2013 ٢۲٠۰١۱٣۳ ،‫أﺳﺮة اﻟﺼﻴﺎد‬ Oil on Canvas dimensions: 73 x 154cm

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Swings, 2010 ٢۲٠۰١۱٠۰ ،‫اﳌﺮاﺟﻴﺢ‬

Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 70 x 122cm

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Alexandria Sea ‫ﺑﺤﺮ آﺳﻜﻨﺪرﻳﻪ‬

Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 56 x 112cm

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The Park, 2010 ٢۲٠۰١۱٠۰ ،‫ﻧﺰﻫﻪ‬

Tempera on treated wood dimensions: 63 x 102cm

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Fortune teller, 2010 ٢۲٠۰١۱٠۰ ،‫آﺑﲔ زﻳﻦ‬

Tempera on Treated Wood dimensions: 70x109cm

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Natural Scene, 2010 ٢۲٠۰١۱٠۰ ،‫ﻣﻨﻈﺮ اﻟﻄﺒﻴﻌﻰ‬ Tempera on Treated Wood Dimensions: 64 x 120cm

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Nap, 2007 ٢۲٠۰٠۰٧۷ ،‫ﻗﻴﻠﻮﻟﺔ‬

Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 78 x 122cm

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A wedding in our street, 2010 ٢۲٠۰١۱٠۰ ،‫ﻓﺮح ﻓﻰ ﺷﺎرﻋﻨﺎ‬ Tempera and gold leaf on treated wood dimensions: 127 x 151cm

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The Family, 2013 ٢۲٠۰١۱٣۳ ،‫اﻟﻌﺎﺋﻠﻪ‬ Oil on Canvas dimensions: 50 x 70cm

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Maspero, 2013 ٢۲٠۰١۱٣۳ ،‫ﻣﺴﺒﻴﺮو‬

Oil on Canvas dimensions: 100 x 200cm

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Snake and ladder, 2004 ٢۲٠۰٠۰٤ ،‫اﻟﺴﻠﻢ و اﻟﺜﻌﺒﺎن‬

Oil and Tempera on Wood dimensions: 70 x 122cm

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