Medhat Shafik (Egitto, 1956)AlberoBronzo8.5 c... Lot n° 7

Medhat Shafik is an Egyptian artist. He was born in El Badari in 1956 and since 1976 he has been living and working in Italy.His unique style earned him the Golden Lion for Nations at the 1995 Venice Biennale, in which he starred together with two other Egyptian artists. He was also awarded the Nile Grand Prix at the 2003 IX International Biennale in Cairo and the first prize at the Cairo Biennale in 2012 along with other important accolades. Shafik has also been mentioned in a major essay entitled ‘Modern Egyptian Art’ by Salwa Mikdadi, which is included in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In his practice, the artist experiments with a large number of techniques and materials, preferring natural ones, such as pieces of wood and twigs, and those discarded by the contemporary consumer society. Shafik’s works are featured in some notables collections, among which: Santa Maria della Scala in Siena and Museo Riso in Palermo, the latter having acquired one of his artwork currently on display at the airport of Palermo. This small sculpture is highly symbolic and could have several meanings, such as the representation of both human and natural wisdom, accumulated through the various historical stratifications of society and geological eras, respectively. At the same time, it could represent the human being with his feet, represented by the roots, firmly planted in the earth and in history, and with the mind, indicated by the luxuriant foliage, in search of answers to questions to which a certain and definitive answer has not yet been given. Signed.