Chant Avedissian: A Contemporary Artist of Egypt

African Arts, Summer, 2002 by Mark D'Amato

In The Nasser Era, Avedissian combines images of the Egyptian president and popular cultural figures such as Yakan, a 1950s soccer star, and Nazem el Ghazali, a famous Iraqi singer, with various other symbols and popular consumer objects. These include a transistor radio, which was well known as the president's favorite mode of communicating propaganda, and the Soviet hammer and sickle. Om Kalsoum, the center-left panel in this work, has numerous portrayals of Egypt's famous diva, a major supporter of Nasser. The combined portraits, words, and script related to politics and culture become icons of Egypt's transformation during the time of the East-West struggle.

The Dogs includes a depiction of Anubis, the ancient Egyptian mortuary deity with a jackal's head. In this work Avedissian reflects upon how the heritage of his country is relayed through its oral culture: he includes hieroglyphic icons along with scenes from Egyptian stories that were told in popular movies of their day.

Stenciling these images onto panels of corrugated cardboard and cloth in grays, ochres, umbers, and sienna with touches of primary colors gives these works the appearance of commercial billboards, a source upon which the artist deliberately drew. Further, the works seem constructed to evoke the interchangeable picture cycles, hieroglyphs, representations, and inscriptions of dynastic period art. Closer inspection reveals that a number of images as well as the background of several panels are handpainted. Avedissian's technique is visually complex because he breaks through the picture plane while also conceding to it. Such complexity is also reflected in the content: he exposes the mutability of cultural images and icons as a visual language of tradition and modernity. This synergy of surface and content can be linked to the transitory status of the artist himself, most pointedly represented in the artist's signature, "Chant Avedissian--Le Caire," stenciled onto the lower half of each work; it recalls a stamp on a passport. Avedissian thus succeeds in creating a contemporary aesthetic that utilizes the visual history and memory of his country, which sits at the crossroads of Africa and the Middle East.

While "Chant Avedissian" focused on the aesthetic endeavor of a single artist, "Encounters with the Contemporary" pulled the lens back for a broader overview of contemporary art from the entire continent. Drawn from the museum's collection, this exhibition was presented in the Sylvia Williams Gallery, which is specifically dedicated to contemporary art. It sought to encompass, as stated in the wall text, "where we have been" and to provide a "preview of things to come." Further, "Encounters" sought to supplement recent scholarship on art of the colonial and postcolonial periods by showing only a "small portion" of work by artists who have received "little attention."

However, we read that these artists are firmly within the contemporary art world by being "well-traveled, well-educated and conversant in discussions of modernism and contemporary global artistic expressions." They comprehend the "multiple, shifting and constantly expanding understandings of their identity and artistry." The stated goal, which can be linked to the recent hiring of the institution's first curator of contemporary art, was to "usher in an era in which contemporary African art acquires a greater permanence in our galleries." To accomplish this, "Encounters" presented paintings, prints, sculptures, and photographs in three phases (January-April 2001, May-August 2001, September 2001-January 2002), with new works introduced for each phase. First- and second-generation artists from the contemporary artistic centers of Sudan, Ethiopia, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa, among others, were represented. This "encounter," then, reflected the museum's attempt to expand and elucidate the discourse on contemporary African art for its public.