Artist Hussein Kamal recreates ancient Egypt in AUC Halls
“The main idea is to create a special environment for each piece because I don’t like them to seem as if they were taken out of the studio. Each piece should look like it was just cut from the ground, sculptor Hussein Kamal said of his exhibition at the American University in Cairo’s Falaki Building which opened last Monday.
And he lived up to his word.
The character of each sculpture was indelibly marked by its personal environment. The works themselves were primarily abstract objects and figurines modeled on the aesthetic values of ancient Egyptians.
However, as Kamal was quick to point out, they were not carbon copies of ancient Egyptian sculptures. His goal was “to try to bring the spirit, not the shape. These are my shapes, not the ancient Egyptians’.
Despite the limited space (the entire exhibition was crammed into part of a foyer), Kamal largely succeeded in communicating this spirit. Within moments of entering, the bright white plaster walls of the exhibit isolate the viewer from the outside world. It gives the feeling of entering a tomb or ancient ruins; places cut off both in space and time.
Each piece is painstakingly situated on waist-level pedestals, most of them white plaster and several of them stainless steel. Several had alabaster pebbles scattered around the base of the pedestal. The lighting was also carefully customized for each work. This precise setting redoubled the sense of space-time isolation.
Some sculptures were relatively easy to interpret. “The Scribe is an obscured outline of a sitting figure made of soft brown clay. “The Ruler is a black figure made of a mixture of fired-clay and black granite, resting upon a stainless steel pedestal. He exudes strength and power.
“Departure shows a gilded carpet leading up to a figure standing in front of a limestone gate. Placed at the end of the exhibit, these simple shapes give one a powerful sense of moving onwards, perhaps for better or worse.
Others are aesthetically pleasing abstract shapes with purely symbolic meaning. “Ascending 1 is a small bronze piece lying atop a granite base. The difficulty in understanding them underscores their sense of ancientness.
Another set of pieces, entitled “The Amulet Keeper is a series of five similar busts each wearing an amulet, arranged around the room. Each varies in its material, lighting, and the height of its pedestal. Kamal here tries to demonstrate how our interpretation of essentially identical shapes can be completely altered by relatively small changes of the environment.
Unfortunately there was one factor outside of Kamal’s control, the actual viewers of the exhibition. Due to the exhibition’s small size, tiny groups of chattering people easily ruined the atmosphere of serenity and isolation for the pieces to have a meaning.
This was particularly clear with regards to the piece “Depressed. A roughly human-sized figurine made of iron, Kamal placed it within a small dark chamber partitioned off from the rest of the exhibit. The only lighting was a spotlight illuminating its simple features.
In silence, the figurine feels like a god or long-deceased king. But with any other person talking anywhere in the entire exhibit, the ambience is immediately punctured and the god reverts back to sculpture.
In the end, the greatest feeling left in the viewer is the disappointment of unfulfilled potential. One realizes that had Kamal anything beyond the bare minimum of resources, he could have created an amazing showcase for his talent. The impressive display he made in this small space is a testament to his intelligence and ingenuity.
