Arts and crafts and culture (and stuff) Part II

Two days later, in the evening after class, we were rounded from the corners of our hotel rooms and herded back on the bus. We drove about 10 minutes down the cornice and unloaded at an unidentified street corner. Proceeding to walk into an unidentified apartment building, we were mildly comforted as to the purpose behind our trip when we saw the support column in the entryway of this apartment building covered from floor to ceiling in mosaic tiles. Our guide chose the plain-looking door with the plain-looking nameplate that read “Moh. Shaker” and herded us into a brightly-lit gallery of oil paintings.

Across the building entryway we entered another ill-labeled apartment and snaked through the artist’s multimedia pieces – portraits of blended hues accentuated with keys, or circuit boards, or ceramic pots overflowing with pasta, or rainbow-colored shoelaces. An initial impression was redefined by a closer look, and we placed our noses inches from the canvas to reveal the logistic pieces that created the larger art. (Like, circuit boards! And cylinders of coral!)

Three floors up we entered another unmarked apartment, full of photographs of the artist’s work. He has, apparently, created EVERY work of art in Alexandria, including the intricate mosaic that hangs above the “gate to Alexandria.” He told me it took him months to create. And he did it on-site, hanging above traffic.

Into one more gallery, we were greeted to Moh. (short for Mohammed) Shaker’s office. Every wall was covered entirely either with photographs of his work, preliminary sketches of other pieces of work, awards and shelves and shelves of books and collected pieces of art.

Although we whined and dragged our feet getting into that bus again after our sweaty, hour-long ordeal two days prior, we were pleasantly surprised at the artistic tinge we could then able to apply to our understanding of our host city.