Young Collectors Auction - exhibit-E

MounzerKAMNAKACHE1935Lot 044Signed, Dated50 X 65 cm. Pastel on Paper 2006Estimate (US$ 4,000 - 6,000)Born in 1935, Syrian artist Mounzer Kamnakache works in sculpture and pastels, creatingethereal works that are at once existential and mythological. A graduate of the Faculty ofFine Arts in Damascus in 1968, he went on to pursue advanced studies in Paris, where hespent nearly two decades. Returning to his country of origin in the 1990s, he took up ateaching position at his alma mater and currently resides between Switzerland and Syria.A respected multidisciplinary artist, his sculptures and paintings have been shown inprominent galleries in the Middle East and Europe.Often revolving around a red-headed heroine, the narratives of Kamnakache’s pastelsseem to float above our everyday realities. His is a universe dominated by creation storiesand buttery-fleshed women whose robust forms recall those found in the works of PeterPaul Rubens or Pierre Auguste Renoir with a sensuality that speaks of an overt femininity,one reminiscent of ancient fertility goddess. For the artist, “woman (the connector) is thebeing who gives us the pulse of life and tenderness at the same time, and like all othercreatures, places us before the big question.” Thus his airy compositions possess a senseof tranquility and meditation, as though his subjects are in a dream-like state. Theircolossal bodies seem to glide through the clouds in search of immortality, drawing theviewer in with their near-perfect forms and the artist’s elegant markings and demonstratedsensitivity. Although his bronze works also reflect explorations of the sublime and thatwhich is unseen, they demonstrate a greater range of aesthetic conclusions. At times hissculptures can appear inspired by Picasso’s cubist forms, in other instances the viewermight recall the round contours and sharp features of Kouros figures, which epitomizedglorified notions of youth and beauty, ideals that are not far from those skillfully projectedby Kamnakache’s own protagonists.