Ahmed Nabil – “I love the beauty that hides behind mystery of the abstract”
We talk abstractionism with digital artist Ahmed Nabil
This week Creative Chair is in Cairo, Egypt where we’re talking to Ahmed Nabil, a digital artist and designer with a penchant for the abstract.
You can see more work from Ahmed on Behance.
Firstly, could you tell us a little more about yourself and what you do?
My name is Ahmed Nabil, I am 24 years old and born in Tanta, Egypt & lately moved to Cairo for work. I have a Bachelor of Arts, and I’m an Egyptian professional graphic designer with over five years of experience in the field.
In 2014, I got an award from UNICEF & The Egyptian Ministry of Youth for winning as a 3rd in a competition for encouraging Egyptians to work instead of fight after 25th Jan revolution. Art is my thing from the very beginning, and that’s why I choose to create art for a living, and I’m taking it very seriously!
To me, art is complicated in its simplicity, beautiful in its ugliness and bright in its darkness! This is how I see art, and I guess this is how every creative should.
Many of your projects are abstract. Where do you get your inspiration?
My background in art started from being a kid, focusing on every single detail my eye can catch. Then I got older and started to understand art more and I took the decision to go to art school and choose art for living.
My background started to have an exact form when I studied the classic art and I got blown away!. Artists like DaVinci and Michelangelo really inspire me so much for my works and their art gave my artistic background a form that prefers complex & small details and perfection.
So I have my inspiration from a realism art school to create abstract artworks, which is weird as it sounds, but I see that inspiration has no rules and I love the beauty that hides behind the mystery of the abstract and the hidden stories behind every abstract artwork!
How do you begin a project?
I like to start a project with some inspiration that gives me motivation to create something good. I think that every artwork should have a vision, a story behind it, and a purpose that gives my artwork a bonus value, then i think about the art direction and the execution.
Do you feel that Cairo and Egypt have influenced your work?
I mean, living in Egypt itself is a huge inspiration. But, The Arab Spring Revolutions in 2011 -especially the Egyptian one of 25 Jan- were the real influencers to me and changed a lot of things inside of me.
The soul of revolution, the hunger of evolution, the hunger of being better. all of this made me feel different and wanted to revolute but in a different way, art choose me and I choose how to form it!
And finally, if you died and got reincarnated as a song, what would that song be?
I guess I’m gonna reincarnate as the beautiful and unique masterpiece of Jennifer O’Connor’s “When I Grow Up”. I really love this song so much that I listen to it every day because I find it motivational and inspiring.
