Flowers are Forever

Zamalek Art Gallery is currently hosting celebrated Egyptian artist Nazli Madkour in a delightful tango of colors and textures. Her "Foliage Revisited" (3awdat 3ashtaar or "The Return of Ishtar", in Arabic) evokes the Goddess of Fertility "Ishtar", a symbol of rebirth and renewal in flamboyant mixed media works of acrylic and oil.

"I like to present my work and give the latest update on it," Madkour explains. She speaks eloquently about her conception of painting in the exhibition booklet: "Largely inspired by nature... [the work] focuses on elaborating an aesthetic language and on revealing a state of mind, rather than scanning a particular subject,” she writes. “Once the process of execution starts, it progresses almost organically, going through a relentless process of exploration, experimentation and investigation. Consequently, this unfolds the medium's hidden possibilities of generating new meanings and of disclosing underlying layers and structures achieved through subtle manipulation of texture, line and color,” she continues.

"I work directly on canvas or paper, without a preconceived plan," says Madkour. She paints organically, adding elements of color and texture as she goes. She never knows what a painting will look like when she begins, instead, it evolves organically as she works."Most of these paintings were something else to begin with," she muses. "The painting grows in an organic manner, like a tree, and I cannot predict in which direction it will go --- it's almost a biological process. In this way, there are a lot of surprises, and that's what keeps it interesting and keeps me evolving as an artist."

“There is always a sort of dialogue between you and the canvas (“7iwar ma3 al 3amal”); you make decisions every moment on what color to go for, which direction to take and you're trying to maintain a balance. It's gratifying when people identify with my work, but it's not my main aim. The target is to feel good about what you're producing. You are always, as an artist, between doubt and certainty about your work, always between loving and disapproving of the outcome.”

This exhibition is a continuation of her work that started 5 years ago, an exploration of foliage and nature reborn, as the title of the exhibition indicates. Madkour's preoccupation with the themes of fertility and rebirth, natural cycles are associated with the Mesopotamian mythological figure of Ishtar, Goddess of fertility, spring and renewal. Her work has two main channels: one is Women, as shown in her 2012 exhibition at Safar Khan Gallery. The other channel is Nature. All are new works, executed over the past two and a half years.

The new paintings have gained in complexity over the enchanting simplicity of the collection of floral-inspired paintings presented in Spring 2011 at Ofoq Gallery. Due to the political upheaval at the time, the exhibition did not receive due attention. The new works have lost the airiness and expansive, breezy feel of the first; instead, they have a more complex, richer quality, and are still extremely appealing to the eye and soothing to the soul. The spontaneity of the process still gives the feeling of genuineness and personal intimacy that she so prizes. Maybe that's because of the way the painter works. Isolated in her studio where no one disturbs her, she describes the process as a highly personal experience, almost intimate, recoiling at my suggestion of painting murals: “I couldn't do that! That would be too public.”

It's important to Madkour to keep in touch with what's happening on the international scene of visual art. "This [art] is my language. I like to hear it and to use it, and I love to stay in tune with what is new and what is going on out there. More and more now, I feel more in tune with the East in terms of coloring, rhythm, form and balance. I just returned from India, where I met with artists and curators, visited galleries, etc.. Some critics have tried to establish a link between her work and that of the Mexican artist Frida Khalo. Of that, she says that the common thread she sees is the Earth as an important element. The contemporary painters that she likes most include Per Kirkeby, Cy Twombly and Kiefer.

She finds inspiration in anything and everything: "The artist is like a sponge and what comes out depends on the many things she imbibes. My work is an internal concoction of all that I come across; some paintings have more gender elements, others are more floral, it depends.” "So how do you know when a painting is finished?" I venture. "Ah, that is the million dollar question!!" she smiles meaningfully, adding: “I don't think a painting is ever finished. I just take some distance and come back fresh to see whether I can leave it at that. As it is a dialogue, an artist can sometimes become mesmerized esthetically with an element in the painting and go down a route that later turns out to be not right. I have sometimes ruined paintings that way," she says with a calm detachment that betrays no regret.

A rare treat, this latest collection by Nazli Madkour is not to be missed! Full of movement and dynamism, replete with the nurturing positive energy of nature in full bloom, it is a breath of fresh air desperately needed in these most trying of times.

The exhibition goes on till June 4^th.