Al MASAR Gallery | The Art Lounge
OPENING | Sunday 26 October 2014 │ 7:00 PM -9:00 PM
The exhibition will continue through 17 November 2014
AL Masar Gallery | The Art Lounge is pleased to hold its second solo exhibition for the diligent artist Tarek Montasser titled;“IT’S NOT FUNNY ! ”.
After more than a year since his first exhibition, “Table of Life”, the Egyptian Artist Tarek Montasser returns to the art scene this fall with his remarkable exhibition “It’s Not Funny!”. This year the artist drifts away from his comfort zone in an adventure to explore the use of Watercolors, ink and pigment embracing their playfulness and spontaneity.
The title chosen by the artist communicates the true meaning, which he wanted to transfer through his Artwork: The main character of the show is the clown, whom he explores from an nontraditional perspective. Regardless of the clown’s Red bright nose, the makeup, which forces an artificial smile upon his face; regardless of his body jumping, dancing and singing, we witness the sorrow in the clown’s eyes, as if desperately crying “No sadness exceeds that of he who lives for the merriment of others, his sadness is his own and everyone else’s.”In these works, the clown characterizes every creative artist wishing to spread happiness and joy into the hearts of others.
Indeed, for Egyptians, jokes, sarcasm and laughter are essential tools, which allow us to disguise the disappointing realities we live in, which Montasser articulates in his saying: “We are a nation that hides pain behind laughter, and Greys behind smiles. The small clown, which exists deep inside each one of us, is what gave us a glimpse of hope to resist and challenge our sorrow. Indeed, our laughter is our only weapon against injustice. The Egyptian laughter expresses content, refusal, rebellion, anger and patience; A celebration of honesty, truth and simplicity. Montasser explains, “our first national product and the staple diet of our soul is the sarcastic joke that reveals every falsehood, every hypocrisy; that wise joke that stands stubbornly in the face of the absurd confirming a common meaning, a common purpose.” Indeed, our jokes form a national treasure which feeds our nation with laughter; Dark laughter, as dark as our soil and as rich as our land.”
