Wael Shawky

Egyptian artist Wael Shawky is hosted on his first solo exhibition by Lia Rumma Gallery, Naples, opening on June 28th.

The artist revisits traditional and contemporary elements of the Arab culture, mixing them in an inedit series of bronze-sculpted imaginary beings.

His creatures appear to be mythical or inspired by the surrealistic iconography, presenting both animal and architectonical features.

The same imaginary world, populated with strange creatures, is expressed in the drawings exhibited by the artist on the same occasion.

Consistently with his poetic, Shawky express in his works the travels experienced in his country of origin, using a range of different media and techniques, with an eye projected on history and the other focused on contemporary events.

The exhibition is completed by the video “Cabaret Crusades: The Horror Show Files” (2010), part of a trilogy, in which the artist retells the story of the first Crusade from the Arab point of view, staging it by using ancient puppets from the Lupi Collection in Turin.