Chant Avedissian

(Paperback)

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Description

Egyptian-Armenian artist Chant Avedissian - who refined his techniques in Western art schools and whose inspiration is fuelled by the pantheon of Egypt's modern Golden Age - deftly explores the boundaries between 'high' and 'low' art; politics and pop; the ephemeral and the enduring; and Egypt and the rest of the world. Avedissian's subject is images themselves - mostly appropriated from the covers of Egyptian magazines from the era between King Farouk's early days and President Nasser's death, when Egypt was pursuing the ideal of modernity. The iconic figures in Avedissian's canvases include legendary singers Om Kulthoum and Asmahan; screen sirens Shadia and Hind Rostom; heart-throbs Farid al-Atrash and Abdel Halim Hafez; and once-adored statesmen like Gamal Abdel Nasser. His voracious appetite for these bygone days, and his unerring synthesis of the themes and iconography of Egypt and the Arab world in the 1950s and 1960s, also takes in mothers, sportsmen and women, soldiers, films, hieroglyphics, rural life and advertising.

Reviews

'What is most noticeable in this beautiful book is the deep love that Chant seems to have for his country ... through his modern icons Chant shows an individual art that is incomparable to any other work.' Al-Arab

Author Bio

Rose Issa (ed) is a curator, producer and writer. She has curated film festivals and exhibitions in collaboration with the Barbican Art Centre, the Leighton House Museum, the Brunei Gallery (SOAS), the NFT and BFI, and the ICA in London; as well as many institutes worldwide. She has advised the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Museum of Mankind, the Victoria & Albert Museum in their acquisition of contemporary art from the Middle East. She has been advisor to the London and Rotterdam Film Festivals on Arab and Iranian films for several years and organised many film seasons at the NFT, the Barbican and the ICA in London. She was recently a member of the Jury of National Pavilions at the 50th Biennial of Venice, June 2003.