The exhibition, organized by the Sharjah Art Foundation, presented a glimpse on the Egyptian-American artist Kamal Youssef and his artistic experience as one of the most prominent Egyptian Surrealists.

Kamal was born in Egypt in 1923. In many ways, he represents an important historic and artistic intersection of Middle Eastern and Western cultures.

In the midst of the political and cultural ferment of British occupied Egypt, early in his career, Kamal joined a small group of young artists, who like himself, were full of passionate, new ideas and dreams of painting in ways that were completely new to what had come before them. They called themselves Group de L’Art Contemporain and created a stir throughout Egypt and in the international community.

In 1989, Kamal moved to the country home he and his family built with their own hands on land in rural Pennsylvania. At age 79 Kamal added a new studio to the home and at age 82 he is still daily drawn to the canvas.

Throughout Kamal’s life, he has witnessed turmoil and conflict both cultural and political. His art, inevitably, reflects those changes: from Egypt in the midst of revolution, to Paris in the ‘50’s, to America in the throes of a civil rights movement and the Vietnam Era, September 11th, its aftermath, and on to Iraq and its consequences.