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On a Caravan

 

Dr. Farid Fadel

Egypt

Tel. 2362-5030 (Studio)/ 018-670-5551 (Mobile)

 

Biography

Described by some people as a true “Renaissance man,” Farid Fadel was born in 1958 in Assuit, Upper Egypt, into a family noted for both its musicians and its doctors. He has since excelled at medicine, art and music, taking all three gifts very seriously.

In art, he has held 34 solo exhibitions; in music, he has given several prominent recitals and concerts, and in medicine, he obtained his M.Sc. in Ophthalmology, and is presently working as a practicing eye doctor at the Memorial Institute of Ophthalmology, Giza.

In 1973, Dr. Fadel was awarded the Pope’s Medal and Vatican Award in an art contest with 50,000 participants worldwide. In 1975, on the inauguration of his fifth exhibition, the Egyptian Parliament granted him a trip to Italy to see Renaissance art, which had a strong influence on his style. He has taken part in several group shows, both in Egypt and abroad, such as the People’s Show in Portland, Maine, USA (1982), where he displayed fifteen portraits. His fourteenth solo Exhibition was held at the Egyptian Cultural Center, Mayfair, London, 1989 and his 16th show in the University of Toledo, Ohio, USA. In 2000, Dr. Fadel traveled with his exhibition “On Both Sides” to the USA where it was displayed in Ohio, Connecticut and Washington D.C.

Some of his portraits were used as covers for Egyptian magazines. One of his paintings was chosen for the brochure of 1988 Nobel Prize Winner, Naguib Mahfouz. Farid Fadel has completed the illustrations of a Children’s Bible with colored-plates that follow a Middle Eastern approach to the stories of the New Testament. The three volumes were published in 1991, 1993 and 1995 and were best sellers at the Cairo International Book Fair. Dr. Fadel participated in “the Call for Peace” group exhibition during the Gulf War in 1991. He has also participated in two benevolence exhibitions to support the earthquake victims in 1992. For 3 successive years he has participated in the exhibition “Physician as Artist” at Riverside Hospital, Toledo, OH and won the Blue Ribbon Prize in 1997. His interest in art theory culminated in the establishment of his “AIN” theory (Aesthetic Integrated Naturalism), which explains his particular views on a naturalistic approach to fine art in a post-modern context.

A manifesto was also published in 1997 during a lecture he gave at the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, entitled “Musicality in Art.” Dr. Fadel has studied violin for 8 years with Professor Adolph Menassa, and for the last 16 years has studied piano. He has given piano recitals in Egypt and the USA. He is also an accomplished baritone-tenor soloist.

 

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