Roland is the son of first-generation Egyptian immigrants and lives in Sunset Park Brooklyn. He is a painter, sculptor, anatomy instructor at Pratt Institute, and artist in residence at the North American Sculpture Center. He is an expert in Jujitsu, mythology, and symbolism, and has spent the better part of the last decade excavating his childhood allowing him to unearth the hidden parts of psyche. This journey and all of these inquiries are reflected in his work.
In 2010 Roland began working as an artist in the film industry as a union member, giving him his first chance to free his artistic efforts. Being a union member created the means to spend most of his year patiently developing his work without bending his slow style production methods to the needs of commercial demand. He used this job to further his ambitions and continuously forge new investigations into his art.
In 2018 He began teaching himself to sculpt, and in 2019 made an important foray into carving marble. Roland remains an independent artist working outside of the gallery system.
Artist Statement: The Sacred Object
Years ago I started an investigation into the nature of sacred objects. What I came away with was an understanding of their character and creation. This became the bedrock of my creative process.
Whether it’s the magical pointing bone of the Australian aboriginal, Tibetan mandalas, Michelangelo’s Marble Pieta, or the Navaho sand paintings, sacred objects all have one quality in common. No matter how simple or elaborate the materials and methods of creation, they are created with care and devotion as though its authors lives and even their community depended on it.
My works are made over the course of months and years. The long signature of time is communicated in the presence of these objects, This slow style is a challenge to our culture’s fast art obsession, but I never compromise my methods because I believe time is a key ingredient in making something with the power to touch and change the soul.
Whether I am carving marble or making a painting with nothing but an airbrush, no expense of time is ever spared in working and reworking these objects. Although this pace can be a frustration, I have learned to embrace the yielding that’s required by ego, to be in service of something greater than myself: the human psyche.
There are some works that once the eyes see they cannot forget. The psyche is seized somehow. These are works that touch and feed the soul. I strive to make something for the world that the eyes cannot forget.