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Attiat Sayed is an artist who has a scrutinizing eye. Ever since her graduation from the Higher Institute for Artistic Education in 1958, she has been devoted to painting.
Working for Al Gomhuria and Al Messa papers she made illustrations with China ink expressing popular environment and faces accompanying articles of her colleagues.
She was so keen to draw many quick sketches finding such east in expressing subjects assigned to illustrate.
All through her 37 years of journalistic work Attiat showed an innovative inclination and au attentive eye.
Since 1995 she has become completely devoted to her own creativity. She was indeed prolific especially that she is a member of an artistic family, her husband being the well-known artist and critic Al Dessouki Fahmi and her son Ibrahim is one of the landmarks of contemporary fine art.
I personally consider that Attiat's exhibition "Nostalgia for inspiring shapes" currently held at Khan Maghrabi is her first real exhibition that presents her to the public in Egypt.
Her first private exhibition, however, was at Al Gomhuria paper in 1976.
Attiat found inspiration in the commonplace, specifically household objects as the old kerosene lantern, the stone basin, the iron and other items that have become among our heritage now that electric appliances have become in use.
In the introduction of the catalogue her husband wrote about the bottles and glass pots she painted in different shapes, colours and sizes. Attiat chose items as eggbeaters, can openers and sewing machines that recall to mind the good old days.
In her paintings these objects earned a pure existence although they are in actual fact tangible objects used for practical purposes. But the shapes she produced reflected such warmth and intimacy.
Attiat's paintings, however, are characterized by a strong and coherent architectural structure where lines, light, shadow and areas are brought together in harmony.
Her arrangement of the items is of peculiar significance because she seems to have gathered the items with such patience to place them together as if they are developing a kind of tuned dialogue.
For instance, we find an empty bottle that reflects the colour of the adjacent bottles. Some bottles glitter with shinning glimpses while other bottles show a density of colours. But on the whole the floor has a role in showing the coherence of the painted objects.
In order to see objects with a scrutinizing eye, the painter looked at them with a bird's eye.
The paintings bear a kind of motion as the eye of the onlooker moves from one point to another having a look at curved, round and straight shapes.
Aesthetically speaking her shapes cause comfort and pleasure and bear an abstract form that takes us away from the subject matter itself.
Although her works are classified under still nature yet her rearrangement of the objects together with the change deliberately affected on some of them in order to cause the required
coherence produced fresh designs. She does not tend to copy as much as she adds much of her contemplating mind and imagination.
She analyses the items and recreates them in such a way as to cope with her aesthetic feelings and vision.
So she allowed herself to make a strong construction where each and every part has a role to play.
For Attiat Sayed expression takes the form of overflowing compassion. The colour areas seem to embrace and outlines of objects seem to be lenient by the effect of her well-controlled lines.
Her forceful feeling fuses the solid rough shapes turning them into flowing tunes all over the paintings. However she derives such romanticism and compassion from herself as a woman.
Her artistic feeling as an artist who has full control of her tools ultimately renders clarity of expression.
Her compositions made of a collection of one kind of different shapes and sizes as for instance tea pots reminds me of the French artist Arman whose works included accumulated items within boxes and plastic frameworks as Accumulation de brocs and Sliced teapots, bottle caps and cutlery.
Although such ideas are limited yet they had implying expression termed as Action Sculptures.
However we cannot miss Attiat's extreme ability for immediate realization and daring mixture of colours.
Yet each colour does not cancel or affect the impact of another colour. She knows how to put the colour in its proper place with strokes of the brush.
She has also dealt with different media as Ink of China, guash, pastel and oil colours.
Among her many artistic men ts is her ability to establish mass swiftly with strong strokes of live colour formations.
Since leaving her daily commitment at A1 Messa paper, she has embarked upon another active stage in which she competes with artists of her generation to enhance female presence on the artistic scene.
© Copyright 2003 by
ArtArabia.com
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