Ubuntu Art Gallery presents a Samir Rafi retrospective at Art Dubai

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, March 29, 2024


Ubuntu Art Gallery presents a Samir Rafi retrospective at Art Dubai
Samir Rafi, Untitled, 1958. Oil on Board, 50cm x 64cm.

by Maie Yanni



DUBAI.- In 2004 Samir Rafi died in Paris in abject solitude without family , foes or friends by his side.

In spite of promising beginnings in his adolescent years in Cairo and encouraged by a coterie of Surrealist writers, critics and artists , all this was soon to change when he left for Paris at the age of twenty-eight after earning a scholarship to study Art history at the Sorbonne.

Born in 1926 to a middle-class family in Cairo , he studied under the tutelage of Hussein Youssef Amin who had devised new ways of teaching art at The Farouk I School after his widely enriching exposure in Europe and Latin America.

Rafi then went on to study decorative arts at The College of Fine Arts in Cairo where he would graduate and carry on teaching until 1953.

In 1946 he joined The Contemporary Art Group ,founded by his first tutor Amin , through which he consequently met notable artists like Hamed Nada and Abdel Hady El- Gazzar.

Actively engaged with his contemporaries, he exhibited widely and created and produced profusely . His early works show a strong interest in Surrealism , an ideology he investigated thoroughly with recurrent themes and subject matter that he explored over and over again.

In 1954 Rafi set off to France on a scholarship ; after completing his doctorate on “Le Purisme et L’Esprit Nouveau” with Andre Chastel , he would spend the best part of ten years in Paris before being appointed as artistic advisor to the Algerian director of cultural affairs at The Musee National Des Beaux-Arts d’Alger in 1964.

Sadly, a year after taking up his Algerian appointment he was arrested and incarcerated on charges of espionage after a coup d’etat removed Ben Bella from power in 1965 . He was eventually exonerated and upon his release from prison was expelled from the country and denied the right to take any of his possessions with him , his artworks were confiscated by the local authorities . Rafi left Algeria a sick and broken man ; this was a dark and traumatic period of his life.

In 1969 Samir Rafi returned to Paris where he lived and worked for the remaining thirty-five years of his life in virtual anonymity.

Although Rafi was one of the young painters who showed promise in post- WWII Egypt, very little is known about him , his circumstances or the creative process surrounding his oeuvre.

Early sketches in this exhibition reflect his keen interest and close association with the Surrealists George Henein , Fouad Kamel and Ramsis Younan among others.

Later on in his development and more so after his deportation from Algeria he repetitively and compulsively portrayed female nudes often with dog and fox-like stray canines; abrasive pictures that mirrored an alienated and introvertly complex soul .

By inference and through documentation and literature on writers, artists , poets and urbanists who either worked with him or were contemporaries instrumental in changing and influencing the course of history , one draws a very sketchy profile of a misanthropist who clearly cut off all ties with family , friends and the homeland.

Through this collection of works, seventeen paintings and two sketches of pencil on paper, Ubuntu Art Gallery sets out to offer a glimpse into the various stages of Rafi’s artistic development starting with works dating from the early forties , when he was an adolescent in Cairo all the way to mature achievements in the nineteen-nineties.

Ubuntu Art Gallery at Art Dubai , 2018
Booth M 14 - 21-24 March










Today's News

March 19, 2018

Exhibition positions the Polaroid at the crossroads between art and technology

Sotheby's unveils one of the greatest Rubens portraits to come to market

Hauser & Wirth opens exhibition of new and recent work by Lorna Simpson

Galerie Max Hetzler opens exhibition of new paintings by Albert Oehlen and Julian Schnabel

Scientists discover evidence of early human innovation, pushing back evolutionary timeline

Sotheby\s Hong Kong announces highlights from its Important Watches Spring Auction

Art Jameel and Delfina Foundation announce a significant new partnership

Iraqi enthusiasts search for relics of royal past

Wagner + Partner opens new gallery space with thematic exhibition

Galerie Rodolphe Janssen opens exhibition of new works by Sam Moyer

Exhibition presents a little-known chapter of Olivetti history

Masters of Spain exhibition opens at the Polk Museum of Art

Women who photographed Dalí is the focus of this year's exhibition at The Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí

IBASHO opens a solo exhibition of Hong Kong artist Yan Kallen

Yinka Shonibare lends his support to new creative awards and advocacy group set up in reponse to Brexit

Composer-in-Residence program at the Harn Museum of Art debuts art-inspired sound installation

Ubuntu Art Gallery presents a Samir Rafi retrospective at Art Dubai

Galerie Fons Welters opens exhibition of works by David Jablonowski

Celebrated painter and printmaker Takao Tanabe creates new award for emerging Canadian artists

Zidoun-Bossuyt gallery opens the first exhibition of British artist Danny Fox

21st Biennale of Sydney launches across seven locations, presenting 70 artists and artist collectives

Monumental Oneida Sculpture Enhanced With Light, Sound and Music

First U.S. exhibition devoted to the works of 16th century master Hasegawa Tōhaku

Chemould Prescott Gallery opens exhibition of works by Shakuntala Kulkarni




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful