His latest body of work, titled ‘Eyes Stream’, uses the express possibilities of the human face as its primary focus.
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The emotions that El Mur’s peering faces look content, sad or bored, while others exude negativity, vengeance and contempt. Faithful to the title of the exhibition, Mur has paid particular attention to the subjects’ eyes, which gives his paintings a prevalent human quality.
Several paintings caught our attention for their dramatic effect. For instance, one piece features what appears to be a sad clown to whom El Mur has used warm colours; but the scheme’s affect is all but vetoed by the clown’s facial expression and posture, which emanate pure misery. Another painting displays an unrealistically large face that, although holds a plain expression, is still rather striking thanks to the use of asymmetrical eyes.
On a lighter note, a cut-out of a green face, although strangely coloured, evokes a sense of complete serenity. El Mur achieves this effect through his ability to manipulate the expressions on his subjects’ faces in a very subtle way. While many are similar in composition, each has depth and character.
Unexpectedly, ‘Eyes Stream’ is one of the most emotional exhibitions that we’ve seen in Cairo in a while. Even with his peculiar painting style, El Mur’s pieces are capable of affecting even those completely ignorant towards art.