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Painter on a Study Trip II

Mahmoud Khaled
006 / 26 June 2014
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An encounter with an eponymous nineteenth century oil on canvas painting in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Alexandria triggered a chain of reflections on the artist's classical training as a painter at the Academy of Fine Arts in Alexandria and the institution's complicated relationship to the language and values of contemporary art. Mahmoud Khaled proceeded to compile a concise lexicon of six terms that recur in art history books to define art practice. Process, material, detail, source, exercise and composition form the basis for six works that propose formal, poetic and associative interpretations of each term. Mixing autobiography and research, the series is presented from the perspective of a semi-fictitious student/artist on a field trip to Antoniades Gardens, a landmark Alexandrian garden modeled as a miniature version of Versailles Palace, and used as a standard location for outdoor assignments at the art academies. 

 

 

Mahmoud Khaled, Process, 2014.
Mahmoud Khaled, Process, 2014.
Courtesy the artist.
 
Mahmoud Khaled, Source, 2014.
Mahmoud Khaled, Source, 2014.
Courtesy the artist.
 
Mahmoud Khaled, Detail, 2014.
Mahmoud Khaled, Detail, 2014.
Courtesy the artist.
 
Mahmoud Khaled, Composition, 2014.
Mahmoud Khaled, Composition, 2014.
Courtesy the artist.
 
Mahmoud Khaled, Exercise, 2014.
Mahmoud Khaled, Exercise, 2014.
Courtesy the artist.
Mahmoud Khaled, Material, 2014.
Mahmoud Khaled, Material, 2014.
Courtesy the artist.

The following pieces revisit a site-specific exhibition by Mahmoud Khaled spanning photography, sculpture, painting, text, video and installation that was presented at Gypsum Gallery in April/May 2014.

Tags

Photography Artist Project Museum Painting

About the author

Mahmoud Khaled

Mahmoud Khaled (Alexandria, Egypt, 1982)

 

A visual artist, he earned a baccalaureate degree in Painting from Alexandria University, Egypt, in 2004. Khaled combines photography, video, sculptural forms and text with installations and video installations. His work conflates gender issues, often regarding the construction of male identity, tension between public life and private intimacy, and reflections on the value and meaning of art as a form of political action. In a deeply conceptual way, Khaled operates by appropriating materials and removing them from their original context to unveil concealed, disguised or staged dimensions that underlie contemporary societies and their relationships increasingly mediated by virtual exchanges. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibits throughout Europe and the Middle East, including the AUB Art Gallery in Beirut, Lebanon (2013); the Stedelijk Museum Bureau in Amsterdam, Netherlands (2011); Institute du Monde Arabe/IMA in Paris, France (2012); Contemporary Image Collective in Cairo, Egypt (2010); Manifesta 8 in Murcia, Spain (2010); Bonner Kunstverein in Bonn, Germany (2009). He attended the artist residency Videobrasil in Context (2012). Khaled lives and works between Alexandria, Egypt and Trondheim, Norway.