Beyond 'Airbrushed from Art History' (7)

Magdy William, a student under the late Dr. Isaac Fanous, the founder of the school of modern Coptic painting and the initiator of the modern renaissance in Coptic art, has been one of the world’s premier Coptic icon artists for several decades. In addition to his work beautifying countless churches throughout Egypt and around the world, he has held solo exhibitions in Europe and Australia. His next major European exhibition will be in Norway in 2012 where over three hundred of his icons will be exhibited in three cities simultaneously. His studio is located along the Nile in Maadi at the Coptic Orthodox Church of St. George.

 
His current exhibition, The Eternal Eye, opened today at St John’s Maadi, the international Episcopal Church in southern Cairo founded in 1931. The icons being exhibited range in theme from the Biblical stories in Egypt to Coptic saints. This is an exhibition that reflects the desire to see the establishment of a new Egyptian society, in the wake of the January 25 Revolution, that inherently respects and honours religious diversity. The objective of the exhibition is to encourage a better understanding of Egypt’s indigenous Christian community, the historic Coptic Orthodox Church, which constitutes up to 10% of the population and traces its heritage back to the first century. This significant indigenous Christian presence in Egypt plays a critical role in enabling all faiths to coexist in harmony.

Retablos are votive paintings that give thanks for prayers answered. This tradition came to Mexico five centuries ago with the Catholic Spanish. For two centuries retablos have been painted onto small metal sheets by neighbourhood retableros. Mexican painter Frida Kahlo had an extensive collection of retablos. Artist Alfredo Vilchis Roque picked up on this tradition of telling a simple, dramatic story with a figurative scene and written commentary. He has been painting for 20 years, and his paintings are based on stories that have been told to him.

Alfredo is a lively man, full of himself, and proud of the work he has been doing for the last 23 years, bringing history and people's stories to painted form while keeping the tradition of retablo and ex-Voto making alive. He begins work with a pencil drawing showing the basic layout - simple and not very detailed. From this he paints the final piece in oil on sheet metal called lamina.

Today his sons, Hugo Alfredo, Daniel Alonso, and Luis Angel, are following in his footsteps.They live in a working class barrio of Mexico City, and have learned the trade and tradition from their father. Their paintings have been shown, along with those of their father, in Mexico City, Paris, Miami, Chicago, and Seattle. Their family's art is the subject of two books: Infinite Gracias: Contemporary Mexican Votive Paintings, and Rue des Miracles.


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Omar Khairat - A Place In The Heart.