Lot 37: KHALED HAFEZ (EGYPT, BORN 1963) Angels Out mixed media on canvas execu

KHALED HAFEZ (EGYPT, BORN 1963) Angels Out mixed media on canvas executed in 2015 200 x 500cm (78 3/4 x 196 7/8in).

Provenance: Property from the collection of Art D’Egypte For over two decades multimedia artist Khaled Hafez explores the continuous reproduction of dichotomies of the past versus present, legend versus fiction, east versus west, good versus evil, male versus female and sacred versus commercial within the popular consumer culture of his native Egypt, France and the United States. His monumental mixed media paintings ask the viewer to consider the actual difference between reality and the artificiality that comprises our post-modern culture by manipulating and recycling images from media and advertising. From afar, Hafez’s canvases resemble the tomb paintings of ancient Egypt. Hafez’s striking paintings are inspired by the movement inherent in Ancient Egyptian paintings, where all painted elements, figures, shapes and animals were in motion rather than caught in a static pose. In all my practice, I try to break this barrier between east and west because I don’t believe that there is any eastern idea or western idea alone, if you take Anubis the idea crosses boundaries crosses seas come’s back two thousand years later from a different part of the world as batman.- Khaled Hafez In this artwork, the pumped-up bodybuilders take regal strides across the canvas or assume the pose of the Egyptian god of the underworld, Anubis. A female model with cow horns and a mark takes on the persona of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of internal love who was one of the most important and popular deities, worshipped by royalty and common people alike. Up close, the ordinary people have wings, becoming angels, and tears of paint runs down the canvas. Whether in video or painting I tackle the same notions and elements that help me explore the concept. I explore through different aspects of this complex identity. I have a theory, I call the Big Mac Theory of Egyptian identity: Egypt is African, Middle Eastern, Arab-Islamic, Judo-Christian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and before all: it is Ancient Egyptian as well. Each of those aspects is a strata, a horizontal slice. It is a big mistake to consider only one layer to describe the Egyptian identity, and leave other layers. One layer is never sufficient. – Khaled Hafez Khaled Hafez was born in Egypt in 1963. He obtained a degree from Cairo’s Faculty of Fine Arts in the late 1980s and subsequently received a Master’s degree in New Media and Digital Arts from the Transart Institute in New York and the Danube University in Krems. Hafez’s works are housed in the distinguished collections of the State Museum of Art, Thessaloniki; The British Museum, London; the Saatchi Collection, London; and the Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, among others. Hafez has also contributed to large-scale events such as the TRIO Biennial, Rio de Janeiro (2015); Venice Biennale (2015, 2013); FotoFest, Houston (2014); and the Havana Biennial (2012). The artist’s recent exhibitions include the first Biennial of the South, Caracas, Venezuela, (2016); Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale, Malta (2015); Ayyam Gallery - 12 Alserkal Avenue, Dubai (2015); Palais De La Culture, Constantine (2015); Galerie Naimah Schutter, Berlin (2013); AB Gallery, Emmen (2013); and Meem Gallery, Dubai (2013). His video works and films have screened at the Rotterdam International Film Festival (2012); the CPH: DOX/ Copenhagen Film Festival (2011); and the New Museum’s African Film Festival, New York (2010).