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BEATLES mania has come alive in the kingdom with a rockin' art exhibition by a Bahrain-born painter making a splash with her dad's favourite band.
Perryhan El Ashmawi's exhibition entitled 'With the Beatles' is being staged at the World Beat Fitness Centre and CafŽ in Janabiya until Saturday.
Her new collection features seven paintings as well as designs imprinted on T-shirts and greeting cards highlighting the Fab Four's different moods.
The work is a continuation of an art project she started during her university studies. The 22-year-old artist known to her friends as Perry, said: 'We had to prepare an assignment under the title of 'I'll love you forever'. My father Amr El Ashmawi, a huge Beatles fan, suggested using one of their songs as the theme.
'I then prepared four portraits of each of the band member individually and exhibited it with the title - 'A representation of love'. It was well-accepted and I received a lot of positive comments.'
The praise inspired her to carry out more research on the Mersey music masters and add to the collection, which received a glowing reaction from the fitness centre management, as it linked nicely with the music used during lessons and exercise routines as well as relaxing in the popular cafŽ which is often used as an art space.
The Beatles may have split up 18 years before Perry was born but the band remains one of the most commercially successful and critically-acclaimed in the history of popular music.
From 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals).
Rooted in skiffle and 1950s rock and roll, the group later worked in many genres ranging from pop ballads to psychedelic rock, often incorporating classical and other elements in innovative ways.
The nature of their enormous popularity, which first emerged as the 'Beatlemania' fad, transformed as their songwriting grew in sophistication. The group came to be perceived as the embodiment of progressive ideals, seeing their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.
The Beatles built their reputation in Liverpool and Hamburg clubs over a three-year period from 1960 and achieved mainstream success in the UK in late 1962 with their first single, Love Me Do.
Gaining international popularity over the course of the next year, they toured extensively until 1966 and then retreated to the recording studio until their infamous break-up in 1970.
Each member then found success in an independent musical career. Lennon was murdered outside his home in New York City in 1980, and Harrison died of cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain active.
Perry, who lives in Saar, graduated in fine arts with a major in painting and drawing from the Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. During the five-year course, she also accepted the opportunity to participate in an art exchange course in Italy in 2007.
Perry's work surrounds a post-modern approach using subjects within an intensely coloured and intricately ornamented background.
She combines popular culture and a wide range of sources from art from the past as well as urban society.
Perry uses illustrations, music album covers, and graffiti incorporated into the traditional form and production of her art.
She said: 'I am fascinated by colour and like to work with pop culture and advertising concepts. People are attracted to vibrant colours - things that look very commercial and are eye candy!'
Perry has staged two exhibitions with other blossoming talent in the kingdom since her return in December 2009. She said: 'Recently there has been a boom in upcoming young artists and I hope this trend continues. We need to collaborate more and help the art community grow.'
Perry started her artistic journey by watching her grandmother, Ayla, now 84, paint.
She said: 'We have a lot of her paintings at home and they were very motivating. I soon grew very passionate about art.'
So inspired by her granny, Perry is now working on a life-size portrait of her, which she hopes to present as a gift the next time she visits her in Egypt.
