Houssam Ballan is part of the 13th edition of the Cairo Biennale in Cairo, Egypt, from 10 June to 10 August. Houssam Ballan presents three of his paintings at the biennale titled as ‘Eyes East Bound’. Directed by Ehab El-Labban, and organized by The Ministry of Culture, the biennale presents 80 artists from 50 countries. The invited artists explore the colonial term ‘the Orient’. Ballan’s works are featured at the Palace of Arts, Museum of Egyptian Modern Art, Cairo Opera House.
Figurative painter Houssam Ballan’s canvases are informed by his accomplished technical abilities and through his extensive academic and research endeavour. As an artist, Ballan’s frequent experimentation informs the growth in his work as he works intuitively. In his earlier paintings, Ballan’s young protagonists are executed with close attention to detail, a form of realism that relies on painterly effects and meticulous line work to create a sculptural sense of figuration. As the bodies of his subjects are given dimensionality, the artist renders their clothes as lines, patterns, and evident brushstrokes with a stylisation that alludes to the passage of time and the presence of an ongoing narrative.
Houssam Ballan at Cairo Biennale 2019
Cairo Opera House | 10 June - 10 August 2019
August 1, 2019