Meer, the online art and culture magazine, published an artist feature on Adel El Siwi on 16 October 2013, introducing the Egyptian painter ahead of a solo exhibition of his work presented by the gallery, formerly Artspace Dubai.
The feature recounts that El Siwi was born in Beheira in 1952 and studied medicine in the early 1970s before seriously considering a career as a painter. In 1980 he moved to Milan, returning to Cairo in 1990, where he lives and works. After twelve years of self training and travel in Europe and Egypt, he held his first major show in 1985 at the Cairo Atelier, and a 1988 exhibition at Mashrabia Gallery in Cairo marked his transition from the human figure to interior landscapes and still life. Meer notes that his later works became more narrative and ironic, with pure colours piercing the sombre tones of the desert and the grey of Cairo, and simple motifs of flower pots, palm trees and camels. In his own words, the exhibition was shaped by two impulses: a monochrome of black, white and gold, and an intensified use of colour to tell the story, with faces of Pharaonic and African features, two Ottoman princesses and fables revealing his "passion for animals."
Adel El Siwi has since shown with Tabari in exhibitions including Yellow Tropics. He is represented by Tabari.
