CAIRO.- The past two years have been busy ones for Mutaz Elemam; he travelled extensively, got married, joined his wife for a six-month sojourn in Paris which was crowned by the advent of their newborn baby, and as is customary for him on his travels he soaked in the artistic environment and dialogued extensively with local artists, a cross-pollination exercise that invariably filters through his subsequent work.

In his current solo show, Elemam reflects on the beauty and aesthetics hidden in ordinary things, places and people we encounter every day.

Working from his studio in the suburbs of Cairo high up on a hill where the air is pure and the sun shines bright, away from the bustle and pollution of the city, he keeps daily regular studio hours punctuated by interludes with the growing community of artists who have taken up residence there.

Part Wabi-Sabi, part personal meditative introspection, this show celebrates the mundane and sublimates the prosaic.

Spanning forty-seven paintings, seventeen works in acrylic on canvas and thirty in acrylic on paper; suggestive landscapes , still lifes and portraiture through a delightfully tempered colour palette and unusual compositions , Elemam uses his own personal visual idiom to embrace the time taken to discover the beauty in hidden places and in the most unlikely circumstances. He celebrates the impermanence of the fleeting moment and relishes that fraction in time that he translates and crystallizes on the surface of his canvas much like treasured memories in a suspended moment in time.

Some of the works executed in big formats and intensely assertive by their sheer size, reflect his physical and conceptual engagement with the canvas as well as the subject matter at hand; an un-ceremonial teapot with teacup executed in quietly muted tones right next to a shapeless receptacle with a few humble twigs and flowering buds, or two abandoned tables in a hazy landscape more reminiscent of pianos that have long lost their tune.

On the other hand, a multitude of small works painted in more vibrant and saturated colours seem to focus the viewer’s attention on the silent subtle beauty of unobtrusive things; the petals of a neglected flower, the curve of a tree branch or the dark clouds of a looming storm.

Elemam is very much an artist of his time, imbued in the contemporaneous air of his peers yet steadfastly rooted in his practice as a painter, he is unafraid to tackle subjects like global warming; ”CO2” -2009 or the effect of technology on our daily lives; “Sound Interpretations” - 2014 and “Selfie”- 2015.

“Elusive Beauty” is in many ways a contemplative show by an artist who is intrepidly setting himself new challenges while ensuring that his work is constantly evolving and maturing with time.

“Elusive Beauty “, a solo show of paintings by Mutaz Elemam, curated by Maie Yanni at Ubuntu Art Gallery, Cairo, Egypt - runs until 15 January 2019 .