A unique space to transform the Egyptian art experience.Arts-Mart is an Egyptian initiative and gallery that aims to act as the gateway to today’s modern and contemporary Egyptian visual arts scene, grounded in the belief that the arts provide a cultural, social and political voice to the Egyptian people and is the most proficient way to address our modern consciousness.

The Arts-Mart Gallery permanent space strives to provide meaningful experiences and encounters with the visual arts. For the first time, a unique space has been created with arts and creativity in mind. Our mission is to present a changing programme of well-selected, visually stimulating and thoughtful exhibitions. Curation and presentation will come to the forefront of the art experience, immersing the viewer in the artist’s processes and concepts.

The gallery aims to develop an understanding and appreciation of art and its importantance in reflecting and affecting how people relate to a changing world.

Arts-Mart works closely with a large and diverse network of artists; housing contemporary giants of Egyptian art alongside up-and-coming talents. The gallery also represents a roster of exclusive artists which we believe will revolutionize the contemporary Egyptian visual arts scene.

Arts-Mart owns and operates the first and biggest online gallery in Egypt and the region. Our online collection is the largest by far and is currently in excess of 2000 pieces, allowing art lovers around the world access to the best of today’s work at their own convenience.

We strive to provide an open, unbiased, wide-ranging and transparent look into Egyptian art today.

The gallery was founded in 2009 and launched in 2013, by Dina Shaaban, Lina Mowafy and Hatem Zaazou.

Mohamed Abla

Mohamed Abla was born in Mansoura (North of Egypt) in 1953. There he spent his childhood and finished school. In 1973 he moved to Alexandria to start a five year art study at the faculty of fine arts. After graduation he moved to Cairo to complete the obligatory military service. There he also held his first solo exhibition at the Spanish cultural center.

In 1978 he started a seven year journey to Europe, where he visited museums in Spain, France, Belgium and Germany. There he showed his first solo exhibition at the Hohmann Gallery in northern Germany. Two years later he moved to Vienna to study graphics and to exhibit at the AAI Gallery. One year later he continued to Zurich where he studied graphic and sculpture and had a two year experience in art therapy.

After the birth of his son he moved back to Egypt. In Egypt he held many solo and group exhibitions at Cairo Atelier, Mashrabeya Gallery, Sheba Gallery, Cairo – Berlin Art Gallery and Zamalek Art Gallery. In 1994 he won the 1st Prize in Kuwait Biennale, in 1997 the Grand Prix at the Alexandria Biennale. Abla participated in several International Events like Havana Biennale. He Held several Group exhibitions in the Kunst Museum Bonn. In 2007 Mohamed Abla founded The Fayoum Art Center where artists meet, work and collaborate. In the 2009 he established the first caricature museum in the Middle East.

Abla’s work has been acquired by many collectors, institutions & museums worldwide, including the Guggenheim and the British Museum. His work sells very well at many prestigious auction houses including Christie’s.

Mohamed Abla now lives in Egypt and works between Cairo, Fayoum and Germany.

Mohamed AblaIN RETROSPECT: LIFE AS A WORK OF ART

LOST IN THE FIREHidden away from the maddening chaos of Cairo stood a serene palace called El Musafirkhana- a place for cultural facilities and artists workshops, and the perfect place for Mohamed Abla to set up his dream studio. This is where Abla worked, printed, painted and found time for contemplation. It was his own private space, filled with his life’s work.

In October 1998, during a trip to the USA, Abla came across a piece of news regarding a controversial fire in an old palace in Cairo. That Autumn, Abla returned to find his entire life’s work burnt to ashes. Artwork, printing presses, utensils- in fact, his entire artistic life- was no more.

More than 500 paintings were lost in this fire. The cause of the fire seemed deliberately never determined or investigated. The artist tried investigating on his own but he was fighting a losing battle. Distraught and emotionally damaged, he stopped painting altogether.

THE NILE: REBIRTHIt was years before Abla recovered from the loss that almost destroyed him.

Insecure, emotionally drained and feeling hopeless, he needed to rediscover his artistic self. In order to rebuild a new path, he felt the urge to return to the roots of his own creativity: The River Nile.

Abla searched and found refuge on a small idyllic island in the centre of Cairo. Inhabited by just a handful of people, no noise and no traffic, it was the perfect place for the artist to build his new oasis. Surrounded by water he felt safe.

The Nile has always been a mesmerizing subject for Mohamed Abla. This was the topic of his university graduation project and one in which he constantly found new angles to explore. The people of the Nile; the boatsmen, peasants, farmers and fishermen were of great interest to him. The serenity and simplicity of his life on the island disconnected Abla from the chaotic city completely. Boats became a symbol connectivity- the thin thread connecting two very contradicting worlds separated just by this body of water.

In this period of seclusion on the island Abla was relentlessly working, painting, discovering and experimenting. Looking out of his window, he started photographing everything. Not much later, his photography would become intertwined with his painting, producing a distinctive visual identity that is very much the essence of his later works.

An immaculate collection of paintings resulted from this rich new start. “The Nile Series” collection has been acquired by collectors, institutes and museums worldwide.

THE CROWDSOut of his window on the island, Abla could see clearly the city he disconnected himself from. Missing it, he returned. Seeking a sharp change and hungry for the intensity and noise, Abla threw himself into the arms of the city he loved and missed. Depraved and fascinated, he took in all the details excitedly, daily recording the way so many people weaved effortlessly through the masses of vehicles, carts and donkeys. However, he was deeply disturbed to see that people did not smile as readily as they used to. This was how he started painting people without faces.

The artist spent days out on the street drawing, sketching and photographing. This body of work demonstrates Abla’s passion for drawing. Easy free lines, moving and metamorphosing, copying the very nature of crowds.

He would regularly visit the Friday Market “souq al goma’a” and fervently draw and photograph. The craziness and randomness of the market gave him the courage to assemble different imagery side by side. This would pave the way for creating collages, a technique which he later explored and mastered.

LABYRINTHAbla produced the very first two Labyrinth paintings in 1985. Extremely progressive for those times, they were not well-received by art critics despite the fact they won First Prize at the National Exhibition that same year. Later, he created a successful full show on the topic. And he revisited it many many times since.

“Labyrinth is my comfort zone. Whenever I feel lost, I go back to the Labyrinth.. looking for my place in the crowds. Labyrinth is my therapy.”

This is the series dearest to the artists’ heart, Labyrinth is about Abla’s continuous search for his place in an ever-changing world. It is an intensely personal documentation of his struggle to recollect, recompose, evolve and come out stronger.

Abla’s well-composed and planned distortion of crowds show a strong element of figurative work. Unparalleled, Labyrinth has come to signify the strength of Abla as a ground-breaking contemporary artist.

Orientation?

NEWSPAPER TALKAbla’s social and political commitment are his driving force. His struggle for justice and hopes for a better world urge him to continuously ask questions and take action.

This collection was created in 2008, at a time when opposition newspapers were very much alive and active and already demanding change. However, such papers and their rebellious headlines went unnoticed and often ridiculed.

“I wanted to amplify these headlines. I wanted everyone to read them and think about them. Graffiti was banned then, so that is why I adopted a Graffiti style of painting instead. Of course, I carefully kept all the original papers and headlines to protect myself.”

This body of work serves as an excellent documentation of this period, and although it could not be exhibited in Egypt at the time (it was exhibited well abroad), it is a valuable visual record which would serve as significant evidence years later.

The British Museum in London has acquired a piece from this collection.

NOSTALGIAYearning for warmth and familiarity, Abla returned to his own roots for security. He dug up his own photographs as a child with his family and found inspiration.‘Nostalgia’ is a powerful social commentary that forces the viewer to re-evaluate our present lifestyle. The collection, a rendition of families or tight groups of people posing together in different settings, explores the positive values of a time past.

Togetherness, tolerance, respect and wholesomeness; the people in these otherworldly paintings are idealistic and complete. Preserving traditions, prioritizing family life and connectivity, these unified units of families formed a very cohesive society with high moral values. “Egypt was well-bound when its families were intact.”

CITY LIGHTS“I just love Cairo at night. So glamorous and attractive. But then, come morning: everything changes. Like a belly-dancer, when this city wakes up with no makeup, it looks unrecognizable.”

City Lights, perhaps Abla’s most known series, captures the hearts of Cairenes almost instantly. A stylised and dreamy take on the city at night, Abla once more took to the streets to continue exploring every angle of his beloved Cairo. So vivid and charming, one can almost hear the loud music of the Nile boats and the loud chit chat of the people on the ‘ahwa’ every night. At night, the city lights are dancing and the daily battles are forgotten- if only for now.

BUILDINGS: THE INEVITABLE COLLAPSEAccording to the artist, this collection was a premonition to the revolution that followed a few years later. Abla created the buildings as a symbol for the country. Portraying layers upon layers of heritage, ideas, architecture, randomness - all juxtaposed with no foundation and no particular plan.“We are trying to build a life without any foundation. If we don’t be careful, all will collapse.”

Abla’s buildings are so artistically beautiful. They sum up the madness and the contradiction of our everyday surroundings. The architectural details are fascinating, so much in fact, that the paintings became a recurring subject for debates and discussion for architecture students at Cairo University.

THE FAYYOUM LANDSCAPESMohamed Abla has had an intimate connection with Fayyoum for years. He spends months there, painting, working, reading and hosting artists from all over the world regularly. This series was created in an attempt to capture the sheer beauty that surrounds the artist in Fayyoum. “I wanted to focus on the sensitive nature of Fayyoum. Nature can be very very beautiful or very harsh. This series is simply my celebration of Fayyoum.”

CAIRO FROM ABOVE“Cairo From Above is an ongoing process. It combines a lot of elements I have previously explored- city lights, the crowds, landscapes- they are all coming together in my head for this series. The concept of heights is very exciting- adopting a birds eye view and yet zooming in on ground-level details.”

Cairo From Above is Abla’s most recent body of work. He exposes the city in the bright light of day. Within this sea of red-brick buildings are millions of intertwined lives pouring out of one big canvas. Together they compose our beautiful Egypt. Zooming out to this birds eye view, all of these lives are seen unified in one frame.

LOST IN THE FIREIN RETROSPECT: LIFE AS A WORK OF ART

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