SOBHY GUIRGUIS – The Self and the Other
SOBHY GUIRGUIS (1929-2013) SOBHY GUIRGUIS departed this world on January 20th, 2013 at the age of 83, leaving behind an unparalleled legacy of avant-gardism, modernity and humanity. His body of work rouses a certain awe by virtue of his selflessness, naivety and indefatigable commitment to artistic creation. Sobhy Guirguis was probably the most existential Egyptian artist of the twentieth century, beside Abdel Hady el Gazzar, and the most truthful to the child within the adult. The best works of Guirguis take you to the limit of your capacity to be moved by art. Sobhy Guirguis, through his defiantly unconventional geometric abstraction of form, rejected the official prevailing academic-realism, creating a modernism that claimed to tap into the universal. As we enter the realm of one of the more perplexing artistic psyches of the 20th century in the Arab world, we soon realize how his art creates a profound and intimate experience. His sculptural or painted shapes are a metaphor to his secluded life, an autobiography in a way, acknowledging his self and the other. Â SOBHY GUIRGUIS was born in 1929 in Cairo, Egypt where he lived and worked. Influenced by his father, a renown naie player in Om Kolthoum orchestra, Guirguis first enrolled to study music and then switched to arts. He received a BFA, MFA and PhD from the faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo in 1958 and obtained a postgraduate diploma in Florence in 1964. He received the prestigious first prize for sculpture in the Alexandria Biennale for Mediterranean Countries in 1994 and the Grand Prize of the Cairo International Biennale in 1994 amongst many others.
2
Sculptures
3
Hope
STROLLING WOMAN Material: Brass Dimensions: 50 x 48 x 48cm SG-401
5
THANK GOD Material: Brass Dimensions: 152 x 44 x 40 cm Serial #: SG-706 6
6
AFRICA Material: Brass Dimensions: 83 x 82 x 54 cm Serial #: SG-700 7
7
LIFE, 1976 Material: Aluminum Dimensions: 155 x 50 x 20 cm Serial #: SG-702 8
8
ONE Material: Brass Dimensions: 250 x 95 x 45 cm Serial #: SG-703 9
9
GO WITH THE FLOW Material: Brass Dimensions: 143 x 41 x 38 cm Serial #: SG-705 10
10
HAPPINESS Material: Brass Dimensions: 20 x 14 x 7cm Serial #: SG-404
11
PLAYFULNESS Material: Bronze Dimensions: 23 x 9 x 6cm Serial #: SG-317 12
12
IF Material: Bronze and Colored Patina Dimensions: 23 x 18 x 10cm Serial #: SG-320 13
13
IDEA Material: Bronze, Colored Patina Dimensions: 26 x 9 x 6cm Serial #: SG-403
14
FORTUNE TELLER - CUP READER Material: Bronze and brass Dimensions: 77 x 40 x 20cm Serial #: SG-327
15
FREEDOM Material: Brass and Bronze Dimensions: 64 x 34 x 26cm Serial #: SG-330 16
PRAYER Material: Bronze Dimensions: 37 x 19 x 19cm Serial #: SG-247
17
PRAYER II Material: Brass Dimensions: 42 x 47 x 28 cm Serial #: SG-505 18
18
TRANQUILITY Material: Bronze Dimensions: 22 x14 x12cm Serial #: SG-324 19
19
THE MERCIFUL Material: Brass Dimensions: 98 x 38 x 45cm Serial #: SG-300 20
Not for sale
20
THE FUNNY ONE Material: Brass Dimensions: 65 x 42 x 32 cm Serial #: SG-713 21
21
The Truth
THE SILENT ONE Material: Brass Dimensions: 66 x 22 x13cm Serial #: SG-226
23
THE PROTECTOR Material: Brass Dimensions: 148 x 33 x 40cm Serial #: SG-402
24
SOUL MATE Material: Brass Dimensions: 100 x 71 x 36cm Serial #: SG-209
25
PERPLEXITY Material: Brass Dimensions: 160 x 68 x 44 cm Serial #: SG-707 26
26
QUESTIONING Material: Bronze Dimensions: 32 x 9 x 10cm Serial #: SG-248
27
WINTER Material: Bronze Dimensions: 36 x 10 x 10cm Serial #: SG-717 28
28
THE WALL III Material: Brass Dimensions: 20 x 19 x 11cm Serial #: SG-328
29
THE WALL IV Brass 20 x 19 x 11 cm Serial #: SG-328
30
THE HUMAN Material: Bronze Dimensions: 14 x 8 x 7cm Serial #: SG-318 31
31
PATIENCE Material: Brass Dimensions: 27 x 23 x 11cm Serial #: SG-319 32
32
WISDOM Material: Bronze Dimensions: 50 x 34 x 20cm Serial #: SG-321
33
RECLINING Material: Brass Dimensions: 50 x 116 x 35 cm Serial #: SG-261
34
REFUGE Material: Brass and bronze Dimensions: 70 x 20 x 13cm Serial #: SG-325
35
ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE Material: Brass Dimensions: 117 x 40 x 20cm Serial #: SG-326
36
MEDITATING Material: Bronze Dimensions: 96 x 41 x 44cm Serial #: SG-285
37
THE THINKER Material: Brass Dimensions: 94 x 28 x 22cm Serial #: SG-500
38
SEATED WOMAN Material: Brass Dimensions: 45 x 21x 27cm Serial #: SG-502
39
WHERE IS THE LIGHT? Material: Brass Dimensions: 66 x 38 x 41 cm Serial #: SG-503
40
AND I CARRIED ALONE THE WEIGHT ON MY SHOULDER Material: Bronze Dimensions: 18 x 34 x 31 cm Serial #: SG-504
41
APPEAL Material: Brass, bronze, wood Dimensions: 37 x 29 x 31 cm Serial #: SG-600
42
TALK TO ME Material: Bronze and wood Dimensions: 59 x 14 x 19cm Serial #: SG-601
43
YOU AND ME, HERE Material: Bronze and wood Dimensions: 69 x 17 x 20 cm Serial #: SG-602
44
WHEN YOU TALKED Material: Bronze and wood Dimensions: 65 x 25 x 23 cm Serial #: SG-603
45
THE CLOWN Material: Brass Dimensions: 87 x 56 x 39cm Serial #: SG-604
Not for Sale
46
SLAVE OF THE NIGHT Material: Brass Dimensions: 109 x 83 x 46 cm Serial #: SG-605
47
CIRCLE OF LIFE Material: Brass Dimensions: 49 x 47 x 39cm Serial #: SG-607 NOT FOR SALE
48
WHEEL OF LIFE Material: Brass Dimensions: 109 x 83 x 46 cm Serial #: SG-606 49
49
ATTEMPT TO RISE Material: Brass Dimensions: 23 x 36 x33 cm Serial #: SG-701 50
50
PERSISTENCE Material: Brass Dimensions: 33 x 46 x33 cm Serial #: SG-720 51
51
CURIOSITY Material: Brass Dimensions: 134 x 70 x 28 cm Serial #: SG-708 52
52
THE WRESTLER Material: Brass Dimensions: 115 x 50 x 63 cm Serial #: SG-709 53
53
DEBATE Material: Brass Dimensions: 109 x 83 x 46 cm Serial #: SG-710 54
54
STRETCH OF LIFE Material: Brass Dimensions: 60 x 110 x 53 cm Serial #: SG-711 55
55
THE GUARDIAN Material: Brass Dimensions: 137 x 53 x 40 cm Serial #: SG-712 56
56
LOOKING UP Material: Brass Dimensions: 120 x 69 x 50 cm Serial #: SG-714 57
57
WONDERING Material: Brass Dimensions: 95 x 38 x 36 cm Serial #: SG-715 58
58
SHEIKH EL BALAD Material: Brass Dimensions: 135 x 66 x 45 cm Serial #: SG-718 59
59
THEY SAID ABOUT SOBHY GUIRGUIS: Without Sobhy Guirguis, Egyptian sculpture would have suffered a significant void. Makram Henein, Art Critic And despite their child-like appearance, Sobhy Guirguis’ works bring forth a compelling, mature feeling in his call to face the unknown. Ezz el Din Naguib, Art Critic and Author We have lost a pioneering, one of a kind artist, and we have gained, through his artistic legacy, a genuine Egyptian genius. Mostafa Razzazz, Author and Art Critic The works of Sobhy Guirguis became a landmark in Egyptian contemporary art.� Sobhy Sharouny, Art Critic and Author 60
“I wanted to invent, to create, to break all the rules.” Sobhy Guirguis
61
Founded in 2010, ARTTALKS | GALLERY | EGYPT has established itself as a highly selective search engine for Egypt’s next generation of contemporary artists and an authority on high quality secondary market works by twentieth century Egyptian masters and many of the most important artists working today. ArtTalks manages the estate of the late painter and sculptor Dr Sobhy Guirguis, a seminal artist who just passed away in January 2013. Part of ArtTalks income is channeled into an Art Fund to support high potential emerging artists and to finance an extensive educational program aimed at growing the number of art collectors and art patrons in Egypt. We run a yearly curriculum on the history of Egyptian modern and contemporary art and invite scholars from abroad to give talks to the public.
Founder Gallery Director Gallery Assistant Gallery Administrator
Fatenn Mostafa +201003838500 Cherine Chafik +201003838100 Aynoor Zeitoun +201004777717 Lisa Lounis +201003970141
8 el Kamel Mohamed Street. Zamalek. Cairo. Egypt. info@arttalks.com www.arttalks.com Facebook Page: Art Talks Egypt www.issuu.com/ArtTalks +20227363948 +201005550585
Founded by arts patron Fatenn Mostafa, former CEO of Gianaclis Vineyards for Beverages and former advisor to Bozar, Center of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium, the gallery is committed to the defense of freedom of art in Egypt and to strengthen Egypt's position on the regional art map. 62