Ancient Egyptian inspiration - Hieroglyphs

The ancient Hieroglyphs were a way of expressing their writing by alphabetic elements. For the important statements that they wanted to write they used papyrus paper, this was usually used for important subjects such as religious literature.

The Hieroglyphs were filled up with many symbols that each represents an important meaning/belief.

[Ancient stone carved hieroglyphs]

 

[Ancient Alphabet] 

In today's life artists still look back at the Hieroglyphs as a source of inspiration.

Recently I've been searching and i came across these 3 illustrations which were made by Josh Lane. You can immediately notice that he was influenced by Egyptians and their Hieroglyphs as he created parodies of characters from different childhood movies.

Another way of new art is tattoos. People all over the world has explored the idea of having a tattoo and some were inspired by Hieroglyphs for theirs.

 

• These are a few that in my opinion looks tackles the idea of Hieroglyphs very well.

 

Josh Lane, Jan 18 2014, http://www.123inspiration.com/hero-glyphics-by-josh-lane/hieroglyphics-by-josh-lane-7/, [Accessed on 18/05/14]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs, [Accessed on 18/05/14]

 

Ancient Egyptian inspiration - Krynsky

Ancient Egyptians were very religious so their art often reflects on their beliefs. They used to draw the human figure and face in a very odd way

The way they drawn and sculpted the human figure was very stylized as the anatomy of the way the body moves was totally odd.Their art was always consistently drawn in a two-dimension way. The idea behind two-dimension drawing was to show as much as possible from the body parts.

 [Egyptians worshiping the mummy]

 

When it came to heads and faces they usually always drew them in side view. This idea was to allow the artist to show the ear, headdresses and hair. They basically looked very stiff and unnatural.

[Odd facial anatomy]

A lot of years has passed since the Egyptian civilizations but today's artist still gets inspired from their art.

Krynsky is an artist which in his drawings he's often inspired by the enthusiastic portraits of ancient Egyptians to create exciting outcomes. His work is very stylized.

In his painting Krynsky uses vibrant colours and interesting contrast. The idea behind his paintings is very much to that of the Egyptians as he tries to show as much as possible of the face and the facial expressions. The outcomes looks very stiff just like that of the Egyptians.

• The drawings were all drawn oil on canvas
• All the same size so that at the end all together he'll create a single masterpiece
• In 1987 this series was exhibited in the U.S. Senate
• In all there were 36 portraits  

Karnak, Two-Dimensional Ancient Egyptian Art, http://www.shira.net/culture/kemetic-2d-art.htm, [Accessed on 18/05/14]

The face to face art gallery,http://www.anatolykrynsky.com/galleries/face_to_face/index.htm, [Accessed on 18/05/14]

 

 

Ancient Egyptian inspiration - Revolution Graffiti

In the beginning of the year 2011, Arab and Iranian were suffering from the government leaded by Hosni Mubarak as they were treated very badly.

The Ministry of Culture was being very harsh in their orders. They monitored artists and their work to see if the art that they were producing fits the idea of “appropriate art” and if in their eyes it was not, the art pieces were destroyed.Basically they controlled all public expression. 

Artists started a revolution for political liberties and social justice. They reflected their thoughts and emotional sides by Graffiti all around Cairo and other Egyptian cities. Artists said “We were hopeful that this would be a new beginning, a new chance.”

Their art reflected the issues of the government, human expression and their highly ancient Egyptian art inspirations. 

 

Graffiti art on the walls in Cairo reflects the thoughts of Egyptians about the unrest in their country. (Mohamed Hossam)

A book called 'Revolution Graffiti Street Art of the New Egypt' was also published by the company

Thames and Hudson. This book consists the interesting Graffiti art that was produced during the time. It exposed the idea of this revolution which was 'revolution and freedom' , 'Egyptians and proud'

Fluoro, Wed 20 Nov 13, Revolution Graffiti, http://www.fluorodigital.com/2013/11/revolution-graffiti/, [Accessed on 17/05/14]

Foreign Affairs, Revolution Graffiti, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/features/collections/gallery-revolution-graffiti, [Accessed on 17/05/14]

Amazone, Revolution Graffiti: Street Art of the New Egypt, http://www.amazon.com/dp/9774165764/ref=cm_sw_su_dp, [Accessed on 17/05/14] 

Goos Hofstee, Wednesday, 19 Mar, 2014, A Canvas to Egypt’s Imagination, http://www.majalla.com/eng/2014/03/article55249091, [Accessed on 17/05/14]