The unifying message of this summer-long show is the spirit of the confluence of myriad forms of Egyptian contemporary art. Like the unceasing confluence of a coursing river, it paints a stirring and inspirational landscape of creative impulse that is set to flower over the coming years. What better place to seek solace from the pressures of the rapidly changing world around us than in such an unbridled confluence of artistic promise.
As we longingly head into the summer months after a blissful Ramadan and Eid break, this recent period has been marked by economic upheaval not just in Egypt but globally as a result of a combination of meta factors converging. However, it is not the confluence of such debilitating forces that we are focusing on with the work we are presenting in this year’s summer collective. Instead, it is the confluence of disparate manners and mediums of contemporary art that we hope will go some way towards inspiring a sense of consolation, direction and solidarity in us all. The Safarkhan Summer Collective 2023 is headlined by our marquee resident talents, and supplemented by a selection of artists who have featured with us previously, as well as a crop of aspiring young names whose work we are offering a platform for exposure, some for their first time. The unifying message of this summer-long show, which will be running from Thursday June 1 to Friday September 1, 2023, is the spirit of the confluence of myriad forms of Egyptian contemporary art. Like the unceasing confluence of a coursing river, it paints a stirring and inspirational landscape of creative impulse that is set to flower over the coming years. What better place to seek solace from the pressures of the rapidly changing world around us than in such an unbridled confluence of artistic promise.
As is customary in our summer collective, we are featuring art along the aforementioned three separate strata. Beginning with our marquee resident names which have exhibited over this past season, it is headlined by the country’s foremost abstract artist Ahmed Farid, followed by stalwart Safarkhan regulars; Ashraf El Zamzami, the reputed Katherine Bakhoum, Karim Abd Elmalak, and the Alexandrian sculpting duo Sarkis Tossoonian and Alfonse Louis, Omar Abdel Zaher, Ahmed Gaafary. Alongside these, we will be unveiling a selection of unseen and recently completed works from our remaining crop of star resident talents, beginning with the inimitable Ibrahim Khatab, the internationally-acclaimed Mohamed Abla and the beloved surrealist maestro Ahmed Saber. Joining them will be a selection of women whose work Safarkhan will be enjoying more of in the near future. From our resident names; appliqué and fabric collage expert Neama El Sanhoury, pop artist Kinda Adly and the abstract-figurative geometric flair of Tasneem El Meshad. We are also presenting the works of plant life specialist Yasmine Hassan, abstract sculptor Eman Barakat, and Alexandrian nature painters Noha Wael and Maryam Khouly, all of whom deserve a chance for their creativity to shine through this summer. Finally, the collection is rounded off by works from accomplished painter-sculptor Maged Mikhael and Ahmed Yousry, whose captivating abstract miniatures are an affordable way for younger adults to dip their toes into the art market.
The 2023 summer collective will undergo a partial refit during the halfway point, where some of the works will be refreshed and replaced with others. Overall, the art we aim to exhibit during the summer months exemplifies the notion of confluence twofold; firstly in the confluence of ideas, inspiration and influence that these artists have drawn from in their elaborate and laborious creative processes, and secondly the ideal representation and manifestation of confluence which results from quality and complementary artforms co-existing in synergy with one another. It is through the advancement of this concept that we hope to encourage art lovers to seek out art that is synergising and harmonizing, not only with one another but with the living spaces that will be both furnished and enlivened by such art. Have a reinvigorating summer until we are back again when our season commences in October!
