This is the second time (after being seen at the Casa Árabe headquarters in Madrid) that a retrospective exhibit is being held on this key artist in the modern and contemporary Arab art world. Through it, we have hoped to promote knowledge about Chant Avedissian’s work from a global perspective, including features not as commonly highlighted by art critics, though they are just as essential. In achieving this goal, the cooperation of the Sabrina Amrani Gallery has played a basic role, thanks to the recent “rediscovery” of this artist which that gallery has performed.

Thus, this exhibition includes some of his famous “Cairo Stencils,” which create a whole iconographic and analytical compendium of Egypt’s social and cultural history, earning the artist great recognition in the international arena. However, other works are being presented, as well. Though more recently produced, they include main topics which have concerned the artist since he completed his studies in the decorative arts and textile design. In this case, he deals with reflection on the process of formation and reproduction of basic geometries and ornamental patterns, which constitute the cultural foundation of many different civilizations. These reflections are the result of the artist’s desire to break away from Western academic art and show the particular claim he stakes on Eastern cultures, with all their diversity and breadth of scope. Last of all, it should be pointed out that, like art, music is a perfect way to make a record cross-cutting cultural influences. May this musical selection selected for the exhibition by the artist himself serve as a metaphor for hybridization.

The official opening of the exhibition will take place on April 26, 2018 at 7:30 p.m., and afterwards you can enjoy the concert “From the Maghreb to the Arab Orient” given by the group Ensemble Méditerranéen.