case Painting

About Mahmoud Khatab Mahmoud Khattab (b. 1988, Gharbya) is a visual artist based in Cairo, Egypt. His paintings are mainly characterized by colorful portraits that combine expressionism and surrealism. The stylized figures and the explosion of bright colors are hypnotic to anyone who knows his work. The artist began to demonstrate his passion for art as a child. Through drawing, Khattab began to create his first works as a way to express himself and relate to the environment around him. Until finding his own artistic identity, Khattab came a long way experimenting with colors and materials and honing his skills with study and dedication. From paintings in black and white only to mastering a wide chromatic palette, his art evolved consistently while remaining true to his vision. His portraits focus mainly on everyday activities, often in dialogue with a dreamlike universe. Thus, the portrayed characters are always interacting with a striking landscape or decorative background. Khattab tries to immortalize in his paintings happy moments as if freezing time. The artist is concerned first and foremost with the feelings of the characters within the painting, and what it generates in the viewers. Secondly, the formal elements follow their course. Aesthetically, Khattab’s pieces are notable for elongated bodies, simplified faces, small facial faces, flat images, and defined forms. His works have a familiar air in their elegance and stylization that can be traced to primitive art. As well, the artist conveys his love of music through rhythm and movement in lines and colors. Khattab’s art is also influenced by the dream portraiture of Salvador Dali, and the geometric and flat compositions of Pablo Picasso. But his work is neither entirely surrealist nor entirely cubist. The artist has his own style, the result of constant experimentation, which is already recognizable in the local scene. Whether in oil, acrylic, or charcoal, each painting by the young artist is unique. Khattab graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Helwan University in 2010 and earned a Master of Fine Arts in 2017. Since 2010, the artist began participating in events and group exhibitions in Egypt and countries such as the United States, Spain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain. His rising career has been awarded consecutively with the state full-time scholarship award during 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.