SUBSCRIBE TO
OUR NEWSLETTER
Back

Mr. Makram Henein - Critic, Artist and Author

Artist, Critic and Author Al-Ahram (Widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper)

SAAD MIKHAIEL'S SPECTACULAR ENTRANCE INTO IN THE WORLD OF MOSAIC

By: Mr. Makram Henein - Critic, Artist and Author

 

The article translate to English by: Youssef Mohammed

 

Do not be surprised dear visitor…. when you learn that experts from all over the world have come to see this amazing exhibition of the artist Saad Mikhaiel, in whose hands the colored glass pieces turned into pieces of diamond during 18 years of fearless challenge. He spent these years making the micro glass speak. With glass pieces of less than a millimeter - the largest pieces of them are about three or four millimeters wide - he introduces millions of color degrees.

 
He called his art "micro mosaic" and I can say that I have not seen this type of mosaic production except in Germany and some rare museums. This kind of production had come to an end due to its difficulty, effort, time and patience it needs.

 

But the really new thing about it all is that the Artist (Saad Mikhaiel) has gone further than what was reached by Europeans and Americans in many aspects, for example here the artist analyzes the colorful spaces and dismantles them in order to recreate the color fractions, such as Pointism artists. He also classifies the pieces according to directions not available in the originals and re-analyzes them in line with the remote vision, which is the innovation itself.


In this amazing exhibition of mosaic art and before you are taken by surprise by the impressive miracles of handling and precision of glass all the way to the most accurate types of mosaic art in the world, let us take a tour with the artist on an almost impossible journey with the work of artistic geniuses such as Rubens, Van Gogh and other Orientalists. Before this introduction, you should know that you will be face to face with a Pharaonic Egyptian artist, who considers that the art he introduces is a global addition to the art of mosaic way beyond universally known standards, with the recognition of the world societies of mosaic art in Germany, the cradle of micro-mosaic as well as England and in the United States of America. Therefore, it is not surprising to find a group of experts of the Mosaic World Unions or Associations eager to see this very special exhibition, after some owners of rare artwork pieces tried to buy some of the artist's creations for being unique art pieces.


In this exhibition, we stand before extraordinary art and an artist who spent 18 years in the creation of these works, with which he superseded the greatest pieces of this kind in Europe and America, . This artist (Saad) worked in the design jewellery business for a long time in Saudi Arabia. When he began his artworks with the micro pieces, he had the vision of jewels, so he treated them like lining up colorful jewellery to produce artworks paved with opaque and transparent coloured glass.  As for the size of the mosaic pieces, we must know that the artist began his journey with an organized plan. He spent more than two years in the processing of color palettes before placing mosaic pieces on the surface and fixing them with certain type epoxy, chosen from among forty types of epoxy. This process is closer to the inlaying of diamond, turquoise, emeralds, rubies and other dark and transparent gems. Under the huge magnifier the arm of which extends to nearly a meter, the very complicated process begins with selecting the color, the piece and the space defined by the artist at the beginning with the utmost precision. With the use of tweezers each piece takes its place in the endless hierarchy of color groups, ready prepared in a set of boxes, where thousands of various pieces of different colors are placed in each box. They are in thousands, yes thousands of color degrees and there are some pieces that are close in their size to the point of a needle, and can not be easily seen with the naked eye. Due to the intense work over the past 18 years, the artist has often been exhausted from glaring at the micro pieces, but that did not stand in the way of his love, but drove him to more determination, meeting the challenges with continued vigour. 



After these capabilities, the artist Saad Romany Mikhaiel revealed to us his creative abilities, so he created with artistic modesty a group of medium-sized contemporary works of his own. We stand before an innovative Egyptian artist and creator of in-depth color sensations, where our eyes follow the dialogues and directions of color and composition. He is a hero who arouses our feelings and takes us through the infinite waves to the world of beauty, and to the world of possibilities.


This exhibition is a school for mosaic art,.. a local and international school. Will Egypt benefit from its masterpieces..? I hope so.


Additional information:
With regards to
mosaic, Egypt showed the initial pioneering genius, in the design of jewellery, bracelets, and earrings. One can see this by taking a look at Tutankhamun’s treasure. The head of Tutankhamun or the cover of his coffin is a puzzling work of mosaic. Mosaic has been also used in Egypt during the Roman occupation, in the floors of palaces, where Gods were photographed on the floor (such as Medusa) as well as some domestic animals, birds and dogs in addition to the decorative elements, as in the Museum of Alexandria.



Mosaic then moved to Europe and Italy. In the Vatican and Ravenna there are fantastic artworks and on the walls of the St. Peter’s Church, where pieces of mosaic have been used brilliantly and wonderfully, so one can not know if it was an oil or marble artwork. In the Ayah Sophia Church in Constantinople fantastic mosaics are discovered, which were obliterated by mortar at previous times. They are considered among the masterpieces of the sixth century AD. In many mosques, mosaic played a significant role in the decoration of floors, walls and in fountains, with marble and ceramics. 

ABOUT ARTIST  |  CONTACTS  |  All rights reserved Saad Romany © 2011, Powered by IPLMEDIA