He draws a tree, which provides welcoming shade for couples, and the shade stretches longer, drawing pleasure-seekers to gather around the tree. The philosophical painter relaxes with dignity to breathe a feeling of peacefulness into the hearts of lovers.
Ages and eras mingled in the night, which is streaked with blue and secrets. The gates of Heaven open for soaring curious birds and angel-like bodies, which get glow and mystification from the moonlight. The frightening night becomes cool and peaceful.
Light constitutes a central element in Sabri Mansour’s paintings. It is frequently the chief actor. The mystifying presence of Sabri’s light is linked to its source so eluding that it frustrates attempts to trace it. It radiates out from the elements, which take shape in the canvas.
Sabri’s shapes look like luminous creatures melting in the form and moving vivaciously across a mythical atmosphere to give the impression that the painter’s seeks moonlight alone to suggest his elements and features.
Sabri’s obsession with the moonlight is due to the awe-striking atmosphere in the work, the nature of the form and the artist’s liking for imaginative or symbolic logic of his vision of the existence and its elements.
Sabri does not belong to Surrealism, though some people, who have poor knowledge of this school, said so, especially when they come across his mystifying and fanciful shapes. In fact, the painter’s paintings have no connection with Surrealism. They are attempts sought to reconcile reality with imagination. He obtains his elements in this regard from humanity and the Egyptian culture.
Although he has a passion for the symbol, Sabri does not allow it to provoke a domineering presence in the work. But, it is acceptable that a mystifying and fanciful atmosphere in Sabri’s work is somewhat streaked with Surrealism.
Sabri pays special attention to Symbolism in his paintings to help him search for his own aesthetic values and develop his individual vision as a human being, who lives in an endless universe of intense inquiries and ambiguities. Sabri’s art is also motivated by his native culture formed by tributaries carrying intersected and mysterious areas.
Sabri’s early works introduced human characters in the foreground; subsidiary elements are scarce. Light, given an overriding role in the work, seeps into spaces savouring silence. Men and women are seen holding a pose for the unknown or for a camera.
In his early works, Sabri came up with a dominating relationship of space, sturdy men and women, and individual colour technique. Later, light shone on the artist’s work to motivate a connection with the elements. Under the influence of Sabri’s light, the space extended further its borders to cross vast worlds. Here, features faded to encourage us to ponder. The space embraced angels, jinn and wandering spirits; and brought them together. There are human beings living in homes while they are overwhelmed with the eternity.
At this stage, Sabri came up with a new design, which turned a new chapter in his mythical painting. The lines stretched longer to connect with paintings made by his ancient Egyptian pioneers. Evidently, it is his native village, which inspired these uninterruptedly unfolding images. This inspiration motivated Sabri’s journey across different courses.
A close examination of Sabri’s work reveals a piteous atmosphere, which also looks like a primitive environment, in which people celebrate the absurdity of their existence. There are funeral processions and wedding ceremonies; soaring creatures and winged horses radiating the moonlight. If the ancient Egyptian painting had survived successfully until the present age, it would undoubtedly have been influenced by new cultures—without abandoning the spirit of great ancient Egyptian masters, who drew images and hieroglyphic writings on the walls of Pharoanic tombs and shrines. Sabri excelled in substantiating such a hypothesis because his paintings show a visible link to those painting on display on the walls of ancient tombs and shrines.
While several contemporary painters sought to draw their inspiration from the Pharoanic drawings, Sabri performed differently. He not only gave in to the influence of these elements alone. He paid attention to history and culture, viewing their elements through a new perspective. He assumed the role of an eyewitness, giving his own statement of what had happened. Also, his loyalty to his ancient Egyptian pioneers encouraged him to brilliantly—and honestly and genuinely—darn fraying fabrics of the relationship between him and his ancestors. Sabri’s shapes voice his language to narrate a story or reveal a secret.
Paintings displayed on the walls of ancient tombs and shrines help us have a better understanding of Sabri’s composition technique. When the viewer closes his eyes and ponder on his images, he will see that Sabri’s shapes arranged elaborately in rows revive the ancient Egyptian painter’s visual narrative on the walls. Like the ancient Egyptian painters, who documented their life, Sabri is recording in his work our present and more than that he documents the sufferings of humanity and the bewilderment of contemporary man.
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