Kassem Amoudi

In searching for beauty, artists always look for the greener side on the other bank of the river. They want to discover how far they can go. They take risks, cross the lines, and travel through the path of the unknown. They dive into new territories, and they try to discover new potentials and new possibilities. They keep pushing the limits, and work around their limitations. For them, as Einstein said, Beauty lies in the mysterious. They realize that the real joy is in the journey and not in the destination. It is in the decisions they make, and the risks they take, in order to reach that destination. Matisse once said that he was a very happy man because he knew his limitations, and he just worked around them. Gorky, also, was pushing these limits when he said that every time he wanted to put a line somewhere, he put it somewhere else, and it always worked better. And, when Patrick Heron was asked about what rules he follows, his answer was: “The only rule I follow is that I make my hand surprise me.” I say I am the happiest when I walk on that fine line between the form and the formless. Between the image and its reflection in the mirror of reality. This is where I feel at home. I am inspired by Rumi who said: “My place is the Placeless, my trace is the Traceless; I have put duality away, I have seen that the two worlds are one; One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call.”

Amoudi is an award-winning painter with an extensive national and international exhibition record. His work has been shown at Woodmere, the Biggs Museum of American Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). He received his MFA from PAFA and his BA from Helwan University in Cairo, and studied aesthetics at the Barnes Foundation. He teaches painting at Woodmere, PAFA, the Main Line Art Center, the Wayne Art Center, and the Perkins Center for the Arts.

Website: https://kassemamoudi.com/home.html

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