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April 04, 2015

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Gamal Elkheshen is an Egyptian Lecturer and visual artist, born and raised in Cairo, Egypt in 1988. In 2010, he received his BFA from the Graphic Design Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts, Zamalek, He acquired his MFA and his PhD from the same university, he obtained his PhD under the thesis title "The Philosophy values of drawings in postmodernism" Gamal studies focusing on contemporary and digital technology studies.

Gamal had exhibited his artwork in many international exhibitions, such as he was nominated to represent Egypt at the 56th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale 56th in May 2015. Named "CAN YOU SEE?" He shows his artwork too in lots other international exhibitions and local as well, He had now three solo exhibitions in Cairo, Dubai, and Berlin, Gamal attends many workshops and art residencies as well, Gamal artwork focuses on visual arts such as drawing, painting, digital print, engraving and Installation, Video Art.

He currently works as a lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University, Zamalek, in Cairo and visiting lecturer at the British university (BUE) in Cairo, Egypt, and Galala University in sokhna.

Exhibitions:

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

· 2020 “INFERNO CHAPTER” the Faculty of Fine Arts, Cairo, Egypt.

· 2019 “CROSS THE WORLD" at Gezira Art Center, Cairo, Egypt.

· 2017 “The DARK FLOWERS” at BA Art Gallery, Berlin, Germany.

· 2016 “End Of Season”. at Gallery Misr, Cairo, Egypt.

· 2015 “The Other Side of Blue” at South London gallery, South London, UK.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

· 2020 Florence Biennale - International Biennial of Contemporary Art.

· 2020 The first edition of the Cairo art fair, Cairo, Egypt.

· 2020 Jeddah Art Fair, Hafez Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

· 2019 The International Nord Art Exhibition, Büdelsdorf, Germany.

· 2019 Orth Contemporary gallery, the Vanity of Earthly Achievements,, curated by Griff Williams, Tulsa Oki, London, UK.

· 2019 Gallery 16, Your Lost Shoe, or Everything that happened Since the Last Time, San Francisco, United States.

· 2019 Galleria La Corte Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy.

· 2018 Video Art installation, Media Art Festival, Cairotronica, Egypt.

· 2018 The Egyptian Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy.

· 2018 Green Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE.

· 2018 Tokyo International Mini-Print Triennial, Tokyo, Japan.

· 2017 The Media Art Exhibition, VITRINE Art Basel, Miami, USA.

· 2017 Agenda Art Exhibition, Bib-Alex, Alexandria, Egypt.

· 2017 Group of Artists, Galleria La Corte Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy.

· 2017 Drawing exhibition, Darb17, 18, Cairo, Egypt.

· 2017 Upper Egypt Salon, Luxor, Egypt.

· 2017 The Intentional prints Exhibition of Miami prints gallery MPG, USA.

· 2016 The International Nord Art Exhibition 2016, Büdelsdorf, Germany.

· 2016 Agenda Art Exhibition, Bib-Alex, Alexandria, Egypt.

· 2016 Egyptian Youth Salon26, Cairo, Egypt. Won The Prize of the Youth Salon 27 “Installation Project” David Can’t is narrated.

· 2016 The National Print Biennale, Cairo, Egypt.

· 2016 The Biennale Of Dai Gallery, Cairo, Egypt, Won the Prize of the Biennale.

· 2016 The Hidden Massage, Drawing Exhibition Art Lounge, Cairo

· 2016 The International Symposium of Electronic and New Media Arts Cairo-tronica “No Signal”.

· 2016 Egyptian artists Show- Egyptian Embassy in Lebanon.

· 2016 The Egyptian-Bulgarian exhibition at Sofia University, Bulgaria.

· Venice Biennale 56, Egyptian Pavilion, Venice, Italy. “Can You See?”

· 2015 Tokyo International Mini-Print Triennial, Tokyo, Japan.

· 2015 Upper Egypt Salon, Luxor, Egypt.

· 2015 Youth Salon, the Arts Palace, Cairo Opera House, Cairo, Egypt.

· 2015 Group of an exhibition at Rom-Art gallery, Roma, Italy.

· 2015 North-South, European Union Art Culture Event. Discovering Egypt, the Artwork Are collective from the Bib-Alex, Egypt.

· 2015 Agenda Art Exhibition, Bib-Alex, Alexandria, Egypt.

· 2014 Youth Salon, the Arts Palace, Cairo Opera House, Cairo, Egypt.
2014 International Biennale de Aquarelle, Fabriano, Italy.

· 2014 Group of an exhibition at Green art Gallery, Dubai, UAE.

· 2014 Biennial of Small Graphic Form, Niklaas, Belgium.

· 2014 Gabrovo International Biennale of Humour and Satire in the Arts, Bulgaria.

· 2013 The BIMPE (Biennial International Miniature Print Exhibition), Vancouver BC.

· 2013 National Biennial of Contemporary Prints, Spain.

· 2013 International Print Biennial ROC, Shanghai.

· 2012 Seoul International Print Biennale, South Korea.

· 2012 International Triennial Color in Graphic Art, Turin, Italy.

· 2012 Local arts exhibition events in Cairo.

· 2011 International Biennale de Aquarelle, Fabriano, Italy.

· 2011 lntergraflk Triennial of Engaged Graphic Art.

· 2011 The Icelandic Printmakers’ Association.

CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIUMS:

· 2019 Barcelona Residency of Art | Sarrià, Group artist project.

· 2018 Luxor international symposium 2018, the 11th edition, Egypt

· 2017 Green Olive Arts international artist residency program, Morocco.

· 2016 Artists in Residency Program, Baltic Contemporary Art Gallery, Ustka, Poland.

WORKSHOP:

· 2020 The organizing of The First Edition of the graphic art workshop 2020 – Faculty of Fine Arts Helwan University. “The First the international graphic event at the faculty of fine arts” and will be an international annual event that hosts graphic artists from all over the world to share knowledge and experience.

· 2018 Art Speaker, World Youth Forum, Sharm Sheikh, Egypt.

ACQUISITIONS:

· 2020 collective collection, Durham oriental art museum Durham University, UK.

· 2020 Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Fine Arts Sector in Cairo, the Egyptian Museum of Modern.

· 2020 The Egyptian Modern Art Museum, The Administration of Cultural Palaces in Cairo,

· 2019 Art, the Cultural Development Fund, The Administration of Cultural Palaces in Cairo.

· 2017 Commercial International Bank Egypt.

· 2016 Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Fine Arts Sector in Cairo, The Egyptian Museum of Modern.

· Private Collection: Canada, Egypt, France, Greece, Germany,

Exclusive online plate forum:

EMERGEAST Ltd. Dubai, UAE. “Online art gallery”.

Prizes:

· 2016 The First Prize of the Egyptian Youth salon “Installation Project”

· 2015 The prize of representing the Egyptian pavilion art Venice biennale

· 2014 The second prize of the Daie gallery, Cairo Egypt.

· 2014 The prize of the upper youth salon, Luxor Egypt.

· 2012 The second prize of the international biennale of watercolour, Fba, Fabriano, Italy.

Volunteering:

The organizing committee for the university art festival, Helwan University. 2020

Art Speaker at the world youth forum, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt 2018.

Career History

Assistant professor 2019 to Present

Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt

Teaching the following subjects: Design, Graphic Art. In the Graphic Design degree course, through using traditional and digital media.

Visiting Lecturer 2020 to present

The British University in Egypt (BUE), Cairo, Egypt.

Teaching the following subjects: Graphic Foundations.

Faculty of mass media communications.

Visiting Lecturer 2020 to present

The Galala University in Egypt (GU), Galala city, Egypt.

Teaching the following subjects: Multimedia design.

Faculty of Art and design.

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy Fine Arts 2016-2019

Helwan University, Cairo.

Graphic Design Department

Masters in Fine Arts 2012-2014

Helwan University, Cairo.

Graphic Design Department

Bachelor of Fine Arts 2006-2010

“Graphic Design Department”, Faculty of fine arts, Helwan University, Cairo.

-Ranked Number one, and Excellent for overall rating.

Artist Statement
Expressing myself with words was never my strength; I always believed in the power of visual impressions to deliver my ideas. During my final two years as a student at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo, I suddenly felt trapped in how to do mixed media with drawing and printmaking. To connect the different material together, and always had the question on my mind how to use the technology in my art, Trying to escape that feeling, I first began experimenting with developing my technique using a computer with my art, gradually moving on to mix the computer with my art. I experimented with different materials as Robert Rauschenberg was my really art hero, as always searching for a more interesting surface to touch and feel we are in the 21st century.
When I discovered the way, my senses were enchanted. I was able to touch the details with my fingers. I no longer needed a pen to express myself and I began a new journey of artistic discovery with technology art. It set my mind and senses free to reconstruct something new and to break and rearrange its parts as quick as the ideas that jumped to my head. Using drawing and painting with the computer in my artwork awoke the child spirit in me and gave me a playful sense of joy.
In my earlier years of experimentation with drawing and painting, I mainly focused on documentations through doing Realistic works drawings I ranked number one in these classes that make me get a high rank of my Classmates, Later on, a new evolutionary period in my practice began. Then I start work on art projects after my art trips for art residency with artists are working on how to write an art project, then I start work on different projects with different material, I found in my path on writing before starting any artwork, and the ideas come from my writing might be from memory what I feel and what I can do, I was lucky in a young age 25 to represent Egypt at the Venice biennale 2015 I write the concept of the project under name can you see?! with my Colleagues And it was a hidden massage to discover the peace, the theme of the biennale was “all the future world”. And after the experiences I had in the biennale I start to think of I want to make different ideas could through it, Even though I had no idea what I would do with them at first, I was sure I would find a place for them in this world. I moved on to work on technology artwork that helped me to express my feelings faster as if creating preliminary sketches through a computer, an expression of the ideas and thoughts that spontaneously came to my mind.
My artwork is experimental and expression mental– it is mainly divided into projects, every project comes after some researches and in-depth examination of the subject matter giving each project its own concept, character, technique, and materials. The interaction between the project, the viewer and I become a priority when creating my installations in order to give the work a living spirit. I’m also working on experimenting with video art, painting and sculpture, exploring projects that could express aspects of my Artwork through movement and sound through visual solutions and language.