His first solo exhibition project was a collaboration with fellow painter and photographer Hamdi Reda, who shares a similar interest in the Arab-Islamic aspect of the Egyptian identity. Subsequent projects evolved from paintings on canvas to mixed media works on paper and graffiti on train wagons –all incorporating his almost obsessive exploration of Arabic alphabets. In all his projects involving Arabic/Farsi letters, Ismail resorts to Sufi scripts and poems of quests for carnal love or for the esoteric divine. His acrylic-on-canvas paintings are vibrant and dynamic. They are inspired –if not influenced– by abstract expressionism, large drippy compositions, and a fusion of the technical tradition of Jackson Pollok and Willem de Kooning. Ismail’s paper works vary from large vertical Chinese-influenced concertinas –where the script looks initially more Chinese than Arabic –to smaller pieces involving various elements and media, including bleach, varnish, ink washes, and lo-fi printing techniques involving photocopies rolled around a bottle.