AL MASAR GALLERY │Contemporary Art

22 January – 25 February 2012

Al Masar Gallery for Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the opening of a special event dedicated to the first anniversary of the Egyptian white revolution titled “Bahgory on Revolution”

Bahgory on Revolution is a special event on the revolution & the Egyptian people by renowned Egyptian artist Georges Bahgory showcasing all the artist’s post revolution artworks to date.

Through his paintings, he’s expressing his feelings and musings on the Egyptian revolution & the Egyptian people shedding light on the rundown of events in 2011, the warmth of the Egyptian social life, some familiar everyday scenes from the streets of Cairo & other inspirations such as the charm of Egyptian music & the music legend, Um Kolthoum, who sang a lot of patriotic & nationalist songs that embodied the will of the Egyptian people.

Some paintings mainly represent and depict scenes from the events that took place on the 2nd of February 2011, referred to as “The Battle of the Camel” where dozens of thugs, horseback riders and owners of camels in the tourist area surrounding the Giza Pyramids were reportedly hired to attack Tahrir Square protesters using bladed weapons to force them out.

Georges Bahgory is an eminent Egyptian artist from the third generation born in 1932 in Egypt, and currently living between Cairo and  France. Bahgory studied Art at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Zamalek, Cairo, 1955 and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris in 1970. Upon a special invitation from the Society of Art Lovers in Paris, his works were selected to represent the Egyptian Pavilion at Louvre Museum in 1999. A face from Egypt was given the Silver Medal award and his name was added to the list of great masters of art. His wood and bronze engravings were on display in many galleries in France and Canada. He also created two granite works during the Aswan International Symposium of Sculpture. Bahgory was also a prominent cartoonist of the two weekly magazines of Sabah Al Khair and Rose El Youssef. He was voted the No. 1 Artist of Portraiture in France, Italy and Spain. He published “Trilogy of Icons”, a novel which was acclaimed by prominent literary critics such as Dr. Salah Fadl and Edwar Al Kharat. Some of his works were acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in Amman and the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo.

The True ‘Path’

“Never did I imagine that the echo of one scream, one call, “The [Egyptian] people want …” could give way to a revolution, and a million revolutionaries then eighty million more; I’m one of those.

From Tahrir – Liberation — square to my studio, I walked with arms raised up waving among the droves, millions of them; I chanted yet again.

In my studio, I gathered my drawings from my one thousand and first sketchbook; it was as if my arms had turned to a brush after the first [revolutionary] call and subsequent ones, and as if my five fingers have turned to hot red, orange and yellow colors; mirroring the flames around me [on the street] and inside my own chest. My own screams have become the canvases that you see in this exhibition.

Following the success of the revolution, I wandered through Tahrir Square to Opera Square in downtown Cairo, meditating again, watching [the statue of] Ibrahim Pasha sitting on his horse, the Pasha pointing his finger at the Mediterranean. And I thought this is the true ‘path’ of the January 25 Revolution.”

George Bahgory, 2011

“المسار”… الحقيقي…

لم أتصور أن تحدث دوى صرخة واحدة وهتاف واحد “ الشعب يريد …”  ثورة ومليون ثائر ثم ٨٠ مليون و أنا واحد من هؤلاء . أعود من ميدان التحرير لمرسمي وذراعي الذي يتموج وسط مليون ذراع أصرخ معهم من جديد , و في مرسمي جمعت رسوم دفتر إسكتشاتي رقم واحد بعد الألف وقد تحول ذراعي المتموج مع الصرخة الأولى و الصرخات المتتالية إلى فرشاه وتحولت أصابعي الخمسه إلى ألوان ساخنة من الأصفر والبرتقالي والأحمر , ألوان ألسنة اللهب المشتعل حولي وبداخلي فتحولت لوحاتي بصرختها إلي هذا المعرض. بعد نجاح الثورة  ,اأتجهت من ميدان التحرير إلى ميدان الأوبرا بوسط البلد لأتأمل من جديد حصان ابراهيم باشا وهو يشير بإصبعه نحو البحر المتوسط وقلت : هذا هو “المسار” الحقيقي لثورة ٢٥ يناير  .

جورج بهجوري٢٠١١

To view full painting with its caption, click on the image to enlarge it.