Born in 1978 in Cairo, Egypt, Riham El Sadany works and lives between Egypt and the USA.
With a PhD from Helwan Fine Arts university on Performance Arts, El Sadany draws upon a diverse range of influences, including surrealism, Picasso’s childlike spontaneity, and Frida Kahlo’s transforming of pain and struggle into stunning canvasses.
A mixed media artist, El Sadany indulges into a world of dramatic fantasy, masterly vacillating between the visible and the invisible of the complex human psyche. When looking at El Sadany’s entire body of work, one wonders whether she is a surrealist artist painting her dreams and fears, or whether she is simply painting our own reality as it really is and as she sees it.
The women in El Sadany’s repertoire are the focal point. Though mostly bulky and muscular, they are tender, romantic and sensual. It is however the set up, rich in optical illusions and superimposed elements, that embark us on a medley of the real and the imagined.
