MEZGEBU Painter, Educator One of the major stylistic trends - indicating the reality and complexity of the country - flourishing in Addis these days is an art symbolic in nature and realistic in its approach. One of the most important artists most easily identified with this trend is Mezgebu Tessema. His works are singularly original and unprecedented. His subject matter came from contemporary Ethiopia. It is none other than an imitation of Ethiopian reality or nature - an ideal, and a beautiful copy of nature, as a large section of our contemporary urban society thinks of what art is, its creative nature and beauty. His early works in the late 70s while he was still a student, and later an instructor, in the Addis Ababa school of Fine Arts, were marked by persistent experimentation. He painted and did linoleum engraving of portraits, still-lives as well as several pencil drawings and oil painting of genre pieces that treat scenes of everyday life. His drawings and linoleum engravings were more in search of a topological perspective, on the problem and proportion of the human anatomy. His paintings during this period are noted for their rich, warm tones, such as ocher reds and purples, and the harmonious effect he achieved through his masterful blending of these colors. The effect and contrast of light was so intense that his friends used to refer to the feeling of the heat in his diploma work as Nedad which reflected the sweat of the very dark skinned farmer, the main ...
Tags :Ethiopian Art, Painting Mezgebu Tessema, Addis, Abebe, University, School, of, Fine, Arts, Ethiopian, Painters, artists, esseye, medhin

www.ethiopian.tv Ethiopian Art : The Twins Art - Part 1 of 2
Tags :Ethiopian Art, Twins Art, Ethio art, Ethiopian paintings

In the 1990s, Bekele experimented with various materials, particularly wood and stone curving and latter direct welding of metals. Approximately a year later, assemblage of everyday objects and installation of rejected materials: plastic, wire, fiber, mild steel household items, bullet shells, matches and matchsticks, neon lights, syringes, office paraphernalia, and even foodstuff (such as egg and bread), which brought forth a new vision of sculpture in our visual culture, become his artistic medium. The subject matter for his works is as much complicated as the execution of the work and materials used. The kind of penetrating sardonic, ironic work of art, (which acts like a clairvoyants power penetrating into the future predicting the inevitable) would not have come from a trained hand and a plastic play alone, but from a matured, sensitive and conscious individual who receives the training and experience firsthand from a life lived. Bekele is a sculpto-poet of the unofficial Ethiopia, an activist poet in his sculpture, as he is an accomplish poet of sarcastic humor. Despite the fact that his work has the force of Tadesse Mamecha, the detailed fascination of Bekele Abebe and the symbolism of Tadesse Belaynhe, it must be understood that his point of departure and objectives are different from his instructors. The range and maturity of Bekeles's work is a significant achievement in sculpture and, perhaps, even painting since the days of Gebre Kristos Desta and Skunder ...
Tags :bekele, mekonnen, ethiopian, modern, artist, sculpture, addis, ababa, Alula, Kebede, VOA, Gebre, Kristos, Skunder, Tadesse, Gizaw, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarian

Gebre Kristos paintings are remarkable not only for their technical and formal achievements but also for their symbolic power and psychological insight. He observed and commented upon the political strife of Ethiopians in a symbolically expressionistic way. His works can sometimes be very sophisticated for the general viewer, but even as such, they are a feast for the eyes, and are easier to digest and enjoy than some of the more complicated, distorted, and awkward compositions of other artists of his generation.. He was unlike earlier Ethiopian painters who studied in Western countries in the first half of the twentieth-century. He witnessed firsthand the western, avant-garde art movement and not only investigated the philosophies of avant-garde art, but took full advantage of them. He did not just bite the "forbidden apple," he ate from it greedily. He appropriated and adapted the western avant-garde art to his own and his countrys artistic sensibilities. Esseye G Medhin
Tags :Gebre, Kristos, Desat, Modernist, artist, painter, artists, painters, Addis, ababa, abeba, art, african, history, of, Ethiopian, Ethiopia, culture, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarian

LUEL Graphic Artist/Painter bornAddis Ababa, 1967 educationAddis Ababa School of Fine Arts, diploma 1987 careerInstructor, Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts membershipPoint Group group exhibitionsAddis Ababa City Hall Gallery 1987; National Museum, Addis Ababa, 1987, 1990 & 1995; Addis Ababa University, 1991 public collectionsAddis Ababa Fine Arts School mediaOil, Woodcut, Silkscreen
Tags :Ethiopian, Art, Painting, Addis, Ababa, University, School, of, Fine, Arts, Painters, Artists

www.ethiopian.tv Ethiopian Art - Painting Art in Ethiopia, Part 1 of 4 Abebaw Ayalew - Art Historian & Teacher, AAU Ale Felegeselam Founder, AAU School of Fine Arts & Design Tadesse Mesfin: Painter & Teacher of Art, AAU Worku Mamo: Painter & Teacher of Art
Tags :Ethiopian Art, Painting, Abebaw Ayalew, Ethio Art, Ale Felegeselam, Tadesse Mesfin, Painter, Worku Mamo, Art

ZERIHUN Graphic Artist, Painter, Educator There was a time when it was said that Zerihun was imitating one of his instructors. What was said was not untrue. However, it was irrelevant. His charismatic and important instructors literally freed the 20th century Ethiopian painting which was subjugated by the spell of Western academic painting. That Skunder was his senior, as well as his instructor and the one who exploited the modernist artists of the west, is accurate. It is also known that Skunder and Zerihun were close friends, and at some time worked together. During this circumstance, the resemblance of their work, if not the imitation, occurred. However, the artistic philosophy of Skunder (or that of Gebre Kristos, initially) was more in the spirit of research and was more sophisticated in the logic of the Western modernists artists, where as the homegrown, nationally trained Zerihun initially acted more in the role of finding, knowing and painting than in searching, although he typically based his works on the underlying artistic structure of his instructors. During the 1960s, Addis Ababa, when the criterion for all Modern Art was the same, the shortsighted criticism launched to attack Zerihun is predictable. Soon after he was acclaimed by critics and journalists and classified as an important emerging artist, Zerihun became more and more fascinated by his work, his own artistic experimentation, the reaction of the public and the never-ending mystery of art itself. He ...
Tags :Zerihun Yetmgeta, modernist, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarian, ethiopian

www.ethiopian.tv Ethiopian Art - Painting Art in Ethiopia, Part 2 of 4 Abebaw Ayalew - Art Historian & Teacher, AAU Ale Felegeselam Founder, AAU School of Fine Arts & Design Tadesse Mesfin: Painter & Teacher of Art, AAU Worku Mamo: Painter & Teacher of Art
Tags :Ethiopian Art, Painting, Abebaw Ayalew, Ethio Art, Ale Felegeselam, Tadesse Mesfin, Painter, Worku Mamo, Art

TADESSE Painter, Illustrator, Educator The assigned trip through south Ethiopia and the residency in Florida October 23, 1998, have motivated Tadesse to create art of fusion with great aesthetic quality--bringing north and south Ethiopian artistic culture together in modern, free and democratic art. This symbolizes the power of the artist, however spontaneous, to unite two forms of art; different in concept but alike in approach, in total harmony--the decorative, ornamental and applied arts that plays so large a part in day-to-day life of the people. Where the political leadership fails to find a meaningful, permanent solution, the artist searches and finds a plastic solution of his own. Esseye G Medhin
Tags :Ethiopian Art, Ethiopian, Painting, Painter, Addis, Abeba, University, School, of, Fine, Arts, Painters, artists

Tefera Gedamu of ETV and Esseye G Medhin Modern Ethiopian Art and Identity Traditionally and formally trained artists Contemporary Ethiopian painting contribution Contemporary Art and Ethiopian Artists Modern Art and Ethiopian Modernists Art, 2001.
Tags :www.ethiopianart.org, Modern, Contemporary, ethiopian, painting, art, painters, Tefera, Gedamu, Esseye, Medhin, addis, ababa, History, of

www.ethiopian.tv Ethiopian Art : The Twins Art - Part 2 of 2
Tags :Ethiopian Art, Twins Art, Ethio art, Ethiopian paintings

ZERIHUN Graphic Artist, Painter, Educator The relation between Ethiopian histroy, Christian Ethiopian painting and African traditional art a subject dear to Ethiopian artists of the late 'sixties particularly to the home- grown Native Modernist Zerihun Yetmgeta, remains a topic of much discussion among the young generation of Ethiopian artists. The most powerful dominant theme throughout his oeuvre comes from the teaching of the church. Progressively, he felt that upholding the cultural values was his duty and a necessity. He was obsessed with Ethiopian art, African art, the nations history, the origin of man, and the Egyptian civilization. The context in his work may be personal—or of Ethiopian society—but the themes resonate far beyond. Esseye G Medhin
Tags :Ethiopian, Art, Painting, Zerihun, Painters, Artists, African, traditional, Christian, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarian

In 2001, while I was vacationing in Addis, I happen to watch an Ethiopian TV interview of Yohannes. The journalist asked him to explain his work. Yohannes told the journalist that everybody is entitled to figure out what it is and see and understand it in his or her own way. Few days later I was able to meet him at his Addis Ababa residence. There were a number of artists at his residence including Zerihun Yetmgeta, Bekele Mekonnen, Geta Mekonnen, Behailu Bezabih and Konjit Seyoum, Asni Gallery owner. Several artists from the younger generation as well hang around at his residence. At that point, I asked Yohannes the same question the journalist asked him. Yohannes gave me the same answer he gave for the journalist. The veteran artist who had taken the path to absolute did not want to reduce his work to few words for a television audience or even for his aficionado. Yohannes Gedamu who studied under Gebre Kristos Desta, the pioneer of Ethiopian abstract art had shared the experience and beliefs of the pioneers of Ethiopian Modernism. From the Ethiopian art historical perspective, the art and artistic philosophy of Yohannes Gedamu falls right in the center of the Ethiopian modernism of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He is probably the only artist of his generation who remained committed to abstract and abstract expressionism. He was the consummate abstract painter and his contribution and legacy will be felt by the young generation artists. Esseye G Medhin
Tags :www.ethiopianart.org, ethiopian, art, artist, painter, addis, ababa, contemporary, modern, painters, artists, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarian

GETACHEW Graphic Artist, Painter, Educator born Dessie, 1957 education Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts, diploma 1979; Leipzig Academy of Graphic Arts, Germany, MFA., 1987 career Instructor solo exhibitions Alliance Ethio Francaise, Addis Ababa, 1990 group exhibitions Addis Ababa City Hall Gallery 1979; Addis Ababa University Cultural Center, 1988, 1991; National Museum, Addis Ababa, 1990 public collections Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts media Woodcut, Oil, Watercolor, Miscellaneous. With his series "Under the Sun," Getachew depicts pathetic and down-to-earth street personages.
Tags :Ethiopian, Art, Painting, Addis, Ababa, School, of, Fine, Arts, artists, painters, esseye, medhin, Ethiopia, culture, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarian

MEZGEBU Painter, Educator The subject matter reflects his childhood memories, memories of the rugged and harsh plain of his native Enewari in northern Showa. His interest in the rural Showa, with its powerful and enduring experience, and the nearly spiritual encounter between him and the subjects are revealed in his works. The landscape and surroundings in which he creates the deep-rooted encounters and memories allow him to create beauty and to make a far-reaching and meaningful commentary as clearly as any contemporary Ethiopian love songs and Novels. His childhood memories and background are mentioned here not like psychoanalysis of his works but as a clear memory of and nostalgia for childhood. Esseye G Medhin
Tags :mezgebu, tessema, ethiopian, painter, painting, art, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarian

TADESSE Sculptor, Educator bornAddis Ababa, 1943 educationKine Tibeb Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts, 1958 - 62; Repine Arts Academy, Leningrad, MFA.,1968; Studied Ceramics, Berlin, German Democratic Republic careerInstructor, Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts, 1970-84; Department head, Painting and Sculpture, Ministry of Culture, 1985-88; Director, Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts, 1992 membershipEthiopian artists Association awardsGold Mercury, International award ; Best Fine Arts Instructor of the Year, Addis Ababa, 1986 group exhibitionsHSI, National Theater, Addis Ababa 1971; Addis Ababa City Hall Gallery, 197; National Museum, Addis Ababa, 1990; Addis Ababa University, 1991 public collectionsNational Museum, Addis Ababa; Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts; Church of St. Amanuel, Addis Ababa; Addis Ababa University mediaConcrete, Plaster, Miscellaneous
Tags :Ethiopian, Art, Sculptor, Painter, artists, painters, Addis, Ababa, School, of, Fine, Arts, History

www.ethiopian.tv Ethiopian Art - Painting Art in Ethiopia, Part 3 of 4 Abebaw Ayalew - Art Historian & Teacher, AAU Ale Felegeselam Founder, AAU School of Fine Arts & Design Tadesse Mesfin: Painter & Teacher of Art, AAU Worku Mamo: Painter & Teacher of Art
Tags :Ethiopian Art, Painting, Abebaw Ayalew, Ethio Art, Ale Felegeselam, Tadesse Mesfin, Painter, Worku Mamo, Art

ABDEL-RAHMAN Painter, Printmaker, Educator The themes of his work after his return from Germany were not visibly different from those of his earlier years. But since then his technique and visual style newspaper collage, silkscreen, and woodcut remain his major media. His fascination with the techniques of frottage, automatism and collage, which closely tied him with his fellow artists, is considered to have been a hallmark of modern aesthetic expressions. To capture the meaning of his subject matter and awaken the eyes of the beholder, he uses these loosely defined technical means and structures. The same goes to the automatic nature of his sketches and illustrations that appeared in Addis Reporter in the early 1970s. The works are like juxtapositions of the city and its vicinity seen by a sightseer. By depicting the social reality of the urban area he found the inner soul and liveliness of his surrounding. The urban scenes, as in Merkato, The bus stop, The automobiles, Women with umbrellas, The Shoppers, The Vendors with their illogical setting where a sort of curious state of restructure creates a deliberate ambiguity and symbioses are distinctive in his tableau. The human figure, the main subject of his work, revolves with all its vital force in the activities for survival and its pandemonium. Esseye G Medhin
Tags :Ethiopian, Art, Painting, Artists, Painters, Addis, Ababa, School, of, Fine, Arts, Music, Culture, Diaspora, Ethiopia, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarian

SAMUEL Painter bornAssela, 1964 educationAddis Ababa School of Fine Arts, diploma 1987 careerArtists, National Museum, 1988-1990; Since 1992, Freelance artist membershipPoint Group group exhibitionsAddis Ababa City Hall Gallery, 1987; National Museum, Addis Ababa, 1990, 1995; Addis Ababa University, 1991 public collectionsAddis Ababa School of Fine Arts; Victory, Delachen Expo Addis Ababa mediaOil, Watercolor, Mixed
Tags :Ethiopian, Art, Samuel, Sharew, Painter, Addis, Abeba, University, artists, Painters, Culture, Diaspora

Modern Ethiopian Art and Modern Art education in Addis Ababa in the 1960s and 1980s
Tags :modern, ethiopian, art, painting, Behaylu, Atnafu, Demissie, Shiferaw, Fitsum, Admase, Girma, Gebre, Haregu, Mandefro, Mulugeta, Tafesse, Samuel, Sharew, Tewolde, Yohnas, Kenea