Saber’s canvases are illustrative meditations on various intellectual and psychological phenomena, he accomplishes this by presenting us with realistic elements, whether symbols or objects, living or inanimate, within a framework of surrealist irrationalism.
Ahmed Saber was born in Sohag, Upper Egypt in 1987. He graduated from South Valley University’s Faculty of Fine Arts with a degree in graphic design in 2009. Saber has participated in local and international competitions, capturing prizes such as the award for painting from the Cairo-based Arts Lovers Society and the equivalent accolade at the Youth Salon (Salon El Shabab) in 2017, amongst others. Saber’s art oscillates between the modern and ancient worlds, and his compositional style melds the precision of his background in graphic design and his exemplary drawing ability, with his proclivity for surrealism containing a distinctly Egyptian flavour. In the philosophy he adopts in his works, he is a sincere surrealist, with his art embodying a brand of contemporary surrealism underpinned by his ethnicity, upbringing and the sources of inspiration for his art. Since becoming a Safarkhan resident artist in 2019, Saber’s star has risen to the heights his laborious and captivating art warrants, having demonstrated from a tender age the potential to be one of the country’s top contemporary talents.
With respect to the conceptual focus of his work, Saber’s canvases are illustrative meditations on various intellectual and psychological phenomena, he accomplishes this by presenting us with realistic elements, whether symbols or objects, living or inanimate, within a framework of surrealist irrationalism. This juxtaposition of realist and surrealist imagery is predicated on his obsession with intricately-worked details, which he frequently uses as one of the key animating factors of his art, with such expertly captured details often becoming the entire painting. These details usually come in the form of symbols and motifs, particularly natural ones like the fish, pomegranate and grape – which have intrinsic spiritual connotations and many of which are significant in ancient Egyptian culture and to the people of his native Upper Egypt till this day.
Saber is a self-professed admirer of contemporary surrealists like Laurie Lipton and Mark Ryden, whose art he is in many respects in conformity with. Saber advances his surrealist interpretation of figures and symbols replete with meaning, drawn from various sources in Egyptian history – be it Islamic, folkloric or Pharaonic – with distinctly modern latter-day imagery, creating a powerful duality and contrast emphasizing continuity between the past and present Egypt in striking ways. The focus of his art is constantly evolving, and with an insatiable inquisitive curiosity, Saber always manages to concoct and expound upon intensely original conceptual themes to underpin his art.