With the massive Cairo Art Fair II event coming up at the Arts-Mart Gallery in Cairo this December 9, the artsy among us are very excited about the 700 artworks on display and the hundreds of artists we’ll get to see. The sheer amount of artists involved can be a little overwhelming if you don’t know who’s who, so here’s our pick of six bright young things you should definitely check out at the fair, as they could very well be the next Bahgourys or Ablas.
Multitalented, Cairo-born painter, Hossam Dirar, also works in graphic design, printmaking, photography and pottery, and his art has been shown in Cairo, Rome, Paris and Vienna.
Art fans clamour for his multimedia paintings, thatks to his uncanny ability to capture the chaos and beauty of Cairo through calligraphy, female forms and rich, loud colours.
There’s something about Eman Ossama’s stunning portraits of women that reminds us of Frida Kahlo with a lot of mystic Hindu art influences thrown in with breathtaking results.
Eman teaches at the Faculty of Fine Arts and has multiple exhibitions under her belt; we know her work sells out fast – so if you can afford it, grab a painting while you still can.
As one of the most popular Instagram photographers in Egypt – her work has been featured on Instagram’s page itself – Nour Kamel's work makes all those who view it fall in love with Cairo again.
She captures hidden angles and tiny details like scribbles on colourful walls to show us just how beautiful the city is beneath the dust.
Having studies Islamic Art and Architecture at AUC, you can see the influences in Mai Rifky's paintings, which often mix nude portraiture with geometrical shapes in bright colours.
She’s had solo shows in Egypt, Germany, Italy and Spain, and her paintings combine the sharp with the delicate in a way that’s easy on the eye.
Born in 1991, Razan Saeed first dabbled in art when she made graffiti murals at the 2013 edition of the Middle East's first street art festival, Women on Walls, in Cairo and other cities.
Now a Fine Arts graduate, she works in visual art with kooky, eccentric mixed media collages and mosaic art.
An illustrator, sculptor and painter, Karim Abdel Malek’s latest exhibition, Soul, was at Safar Khan Gallery earlier this year and it certainly turned heads
. His paintings are undeniably pretty – his focus on women with sumptuous eyes and stunning cheekbones make his portraits easy to love and a pleasure to view.
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By Samar El Shams
