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Esmat Dawestashy
from Eternal Light
by artdegypte
Esmat Dawestashy is an artist who has often changed his style. His early work manipulated abstract forms with collage from past photographic work. His paintings presented somewhat irrational but symbolic arrays of strongly colored coils and bundles. Dawestashy then turned to Sufi mysticism and later started creating threedimensional forms using discarded items to caustically comment on societal issues.
Dawestashy was born in 1943. Having graduated from the department of sculpture from the Alexandrian Faculty of Fine Arts in 1967, he established the Gamaet Eltahawuul (Transformation Group) two years later.
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The artist served as an exhibitions supervisor for the Ministry of Culture at the Mahmoud Said Museum in Alexandria. In 1993, he was appointed to serve as the director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Alexandria and supervised the organized of the 18th Alexandria Biennale for Mediterranean Countries.
Dawestashy published the Plastic Art Magazine , as well as several books, among them a series entitled Catalogue 67 , a commemorative book entitled Alam Dawestashy (Dawestashy’s World), to mark his 50th birthday. He has also supervised the publication of two volumes; Aklam El Sahwa (Pens of Consciousness) and Insan Wal Tatawor (Man and Development).
Other endeavors have included short stories, poetry and script writing, as well as art criticism. Dawestashy has also executed a series of films, using both exposed and unexposed color films, to which lines, colors and scratches were added. Since the 1960s, he has participated in several group exhibitions and has held more than 150 private exhibitions. In 1996, the Ministry of Culture awarded him the State Fellowship for Creative Artists.
Clockwise from top left:
Esmat Dawestashy
Woman Hairat , 2015
Oil on canvas
120 x 100 cm
Esmat Dawestashy
Princess Black , 2015
Oil on canvas
120 x 100
Esmat Dawestashy
The Key to Life , 1965
Oil on wood
30 x 40 cm
Esmat Dawestashy
Pyramid Goal , 1991
Oil on wood
275 x 340 cm
Images courtesy of the artist
