Hossam Dirar

Hossam Dirar



Education
BA Fine Art, Faculty of Applied Arts, Helwan University, 1995 – 2000
Graduated with honours, and won best Graduation project amongst all entries.
Major studies: Graphic Design, Painting, Printmaking, and Mixed Media.
Minor Studies: Product Design, Photography, Multimedia, Textiles, and Ceramics.
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Hossam Hassan Dirar, a 34 years old Egyptian artist; born and raised in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. This busy city, with its rich heritage and multi-culture facets, inspired Hossam - as a kid - to explore the world around him and train his imagination to aspire to the undefined and aim to the stars and beyond!

In the year 2000, and after graduating from The Faculty of Applied Arts, Helwan University; Hossam was interested in the study of calligraphy and its relation to art. He was thus a constant participant in all art, photography, and creativity workshops held at that time. He worked as a graphic designer for a multinational advertising agency in Egypt and then in 2005, he started his own art studio; specializing in producing graphic artworks on canvas. Hossam became known in Egypt and the Middle East as a genuine contemporary artist for his daring innovation in art techniques. He introduced his contemporary art to the Egyptian art market through his unique graphic artworks that were accentuated by hand paint and successfully exhibited in private galleries and showrooms. Hossam’s artworks were soon becoming valuable possessions for art lovers and collectors!
Merging his passion for art, his talent as a painter, and his graphics innovation; Hossam Hassan has managed to create his own artistic identity and present it to the world through a new concept of artistic creation.

Hossam Dirar

Art is my way of expressing my concepts & perspectives in life. Life is full of images; through my art I try to capture the essence of those images on canvas.

Abstract is my keyword. Nature is my inspiration. Mind, shapes, and imaginations are my basic elements.
My digital art explores the magic of our heritage in a new contemporary vision & give 'rebirth' to old & traditional icons; with the genuine use of colors, calligraphy, icons, & patterns.

Through my artwork I try to bring to life the beauty of old times, the depth of memorable images in a modern unique vision. Thus text & calligraphy are features that I use. The strong impact of words merged with the patterns make the piece of art a true illustration of my perspectives.

All is one & one is all… Observing different elements & shapes in nature my minds start to work. My imagination starts to see manifestation beyond what we normally see; the invisible in the visible.

I capture these manifestations, reduce them to their basic forms, blend them again creating something completely new full of life and movement. Creating an original piece of art that combines the essence of an idea & the emotion of my inner consciousness.
The result is originality, something you have never seen before.

Each one experiences these new illustrations depending on his imagination, beliefs, & perspective in life. And that's the beauty of Abstract art.


Being different is thinking different. In my artwork everything is possible. Any color is allowed. All shapes, forms & colors can be mixed together. In Art a fish doesn't have to be in the sea.

Everything I observe or experience in life inspires me; everyday small details, everything surrounding us, time, heritage, and memories.

I hope to make people see things that their eyes usually don't see; showing them images of what they feel. I wish to deliver my perceptions to the world; and Art is my way. Hoping that people start to feel the essence of things, only then they will see their own images in life.

Hossam Dirar

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Adam Henein

Adam Henein


Adam Henein in Cairo in 1929. He received his Diploma from the Academy of Fine Art, in Cairo, in 1953.



Henein quickly found fame as a sculptor first in Cairo then in the Middle East.

He received Luxor Prize in sculpture from 1954-56. After moving to Paris in 1971, he seriously started to explore the possibilities of paint. His first Parisian works (small formats on papyrus) were composed in a symbolic, hieroglyphic language, which bore witness to his ancestral heritage. His forms became progressively more open, bold and full of reference to his sculpture by virtue of their geometric juxtaposition of earth colors, animated, by lively yet subdued tonality accentuated by the third dimension of the papyrus.

Henein is the founder and Director of the annual International Sculpture Symposium in Aswan, the position for which he is known internationally. In fact, it is for his work in sculpture that he became recognized as an artist and considered the Godfather, of Egyptian sculpture.

Henein draws on his vast international experience, while maintaining a local cachet. Pyramids, pharaonic kings and sections of hieroglyphs appear in his work , reminding us constantly of Henein's Egyptian identity.

Adam Henein was born into a family of metalworkers in Cairo in 1929. He was trained as a sculptor at the Academy of Fine Art in Cairo, from which he received his degree in 1953.


Henein became known as a sculptor in the 1950s; he received Luxor Prize in 1954-56, and his work was shown in Cairo, Alexandria, and Munich by the end of that decade. When he moved to Paris in 1971, Henein began to explore painting. In both his paintings and his sculptures, he has gained recognition for the use of ancient Egyptian themes and traditional materials.


From 1989 to 1998 Henein headed the design team involved in the restoration of the Great Sphinx at Giza, drawing on his experience as a sculptor to determine how the monument was originally carved. In 1998 he was decorated for his service by the Egyptian government. He is the founder and director of the annual international sculpture symposium in Aswan, and the position, for which he is known internationally, has been a major activity of the past four years. Henein has had one-person exhibitions in Alexandria, Amsterdam, Cairo London, Nantes, Paris, and Rome .He has participated in-group exhibitions in Cairo, Munich, Calais Casablanca, Dakar, Ljubljana, Naples, Sorrento, and Spoleto.


His commissioned works are in public buildings in Egypt, Italy and Saudi Arabia.

SOUAD MARDAM BEY

SOUAD MARDAM BEY

Mardam Bey’s oversized canvases are brimming with undercurrents of emotion; layers of color and intricate details which adorn her subjects, yet it is their eyes that leave you spellbound. Trapped behind hauntingly beautiful irises are tales derived from life.

Her palette alternates from one painting to another; through scarlet backgrounds, violet turbans, and orange cloaks - the artist professes her passion for color. Still, she grants each of her subjects a colorfully, melancholic persona. Their plush lips are sealed, fencing in their deepest secrets, while their eyes ratify an ethereal disposition.

The artist has seen her subjects a million times before, either lurking around or speeding past her on the streets - and all around her head. It is humankind, which drives this artist’s paint brush. Yet Mardam Bey does not simply produce snapshots of your everyday man and woman - she creates a community of otherworldly creatures, held captive to her use of overpowering colors and entrancing techniques.

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SOUAD MARDAM BEY

Cairo-based artist Souad Mardam Bey. Her colourful canvases portray ethereal and ephemeral figures and silhouettes, such as Nubian faces and figures with highly accented features, wearing typical clothes from Egypt’s belle époque era. All her subjects, humans and animals, are fantastical and whimsical. Her complex art, inspired by Egypt, is infused with a great symbolism. In her paintings she likes to use gold foil, earthy shades, red and bordeaux.

Born of a Kurdish German mother and a Syrian father, Mardam Bey combines a great variety of faiths, customs and traditions in her work. She has lived in many countries in the Middle East and studied philosophy and art in Beirut.

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