1-54 London Addis Fine Art by AddisFineArt1

1-54 London 2024

Addis Gezehagn, Engdaye

Lemma & Nahom Teklehaimanot

1-54 London, Somerset House

10 - 13 October 2024

Addis Gezehagn, Engdaye Lemma, and Nahom Teklehaimanot

Booth E5

Addis Fine Art is pleased to be presenting a group booth of three artists from Ethiopia: Addis Gezehagn (b.1978), Engdaye Lemma (b.1980), and Nahom Teklehaimanot (b.1991). Coming from different stages in their careers, and working across different sizes and mediums, the artists engage with collage practice to explore contemporary life and urbanisation in Ethiopia.

Addis Gezehagn’s large-scale collage works are made by layering magazine cut-outs with acrylic paint, creating dreamlike cityscapes which defy scale and introduce new perspectives. These patchwork cityscapes capture the random pattern of living, one structure on top of another, that has gradually and organically developed in the Ethiopian capital. Gezehagn reimagines Addis Ababa and its unrestrained urbanity, his Floating Cities attendant to the transformations that continuously occur in the city.

Engdaye Lemma’s experimental print-making practice synthesises screen-printing, painting, and collage media. Exploring the many ways in which life and culture intertwine, his work interrogates the texture of society. Living and working in the bustling city of Addis Ababa, for Engdaye, the ebbs and flows of city life are a subject of deep curiosity. He often reflects on the ways in which public and private spaces overlap in urban environments. The visual density of his works speaks to the everyday chaos of life in the city: the rapid pace of change and movement, the blurred boundaries of individuality and collectivity, the rhythmic cacophony, and the continuous creation of residual artefacts.

Nahom Tecklehaimanot first creates an assemblage of collaged images from magazines and archives before meticulously airbrushing these pieces into a cohesive two-dimensional composition. The smooth, almost ethereal quality of the airbrushing evokes the longing for a familiar comfort, a sense of belonging that has been disrupted. The fractured and fragmented nature of the disparate images, however, reveals the stark reality of displacement. The airbrush’s hazy touch, a reminder of fading memories and the life left behind, stands in contrast with the jarring edges of the composition, symbolising the sudden and often traumatic transition of migration. The works at once address the pain and uncertainty of displacement, and also embrace the resilience and adaptability that come with navigating a new environment.

Addis Gezehagn

Addis Gezehagn is known for his labour-intensive assemblage practice. It takes the artist many months to finalise each work. Methodically layering cut-outs from locally sourced magazines onto his canvases, the artist then applies acrylic paint to create his signature cityscapes. His canvases possess a kaleidoscopic quality, every centimetre of each painting different from the last. The effect is a dizzying landscape of colour variations and unique textures, created by the intentional cracking of the collage beneath.

Addis Gezehagn (b. 1978) lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He studied Graphic Design at the Alle Schoole of Fine Art in Addis Ababa, graduating in 2011. Since then, his works have been included in numerous group exhibitions in London, Addis Ababa, Dubai, Cape Town, and Johannesburg. He has had several solo exhibitions with Addis Fine Art in London and Addis Ababa, including his most recent exhibition Floating Cities , that took place this year.

Addis Gezehagn

Floating City XXXII, 2022

Acrylic on canvas

170 x 140 cm

Addis Gezehagn

Untitled 4, 2024

Acrylic and collage on canvas

45 x 45 cm

Addis Gezehagn

Untitled 16, 2024

Acrylic and collage on canvas

45 x 45 cm

Addis Gezehagn

Untitled 10, 2024

Acrylic and collage on canvas

45 x 45 cm

Engdaye Lemma

Engdaye Lemma (b. 1981) was born and raised in Desse City, Ethiopia. His interest in visual art was cultivated at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design where he received his Bachelors of Fine Arts and was part of the school’s first print-making cohort. Lemma now teaches at the School of Fine Arts and collaborates with several of his former teachers and inspirations including Zerihun Yetimgeta, Getachew Yossef, Agegnehu Adane, and Berhanu Ashagre.

Lemma has featured in several group shows in New York, Malta, Nairobi, London and Addis Ababa including Connected Threads at NADA Space in New York (2024), Eastern Voices in London (2023) and Alle Legends in Addis Ababa (2023). He held his first solo exhibition in London, Floating Souls , at Addis Fine Art in Winter 2024.

Beyond the surface, 2024

Mixed media on canvas

170 x 150 cm

Engdaye Lemma

A Boy named Abebe , 2024

Mixed media on canvas

130 x 125 cm

Engdaye Lemma

Blood and Whiskey , 2024

Mixed media on paper

x 57 cm

Nahom Teklehaimanot (b. 1991) was born in Addis Ababa and grew up between Ethiopia and Eritrea. He is a self-taught artist, who developed his distinctive airbrush technique inspired by the simple artistry of children’s lullabies and songs. A strong believer in artistic freedom, his paintings incorporate a range of symbols, always adapting to new concepts to articulate struggles relating to race, oppression, culture, and the global condition.

Nahom Teklehaimanot's exhibition, When Home Won't Let You Stay, Addis Fine Art , Addis Ababa, was his first solo exhibition since attending The Noldor Residency in Accra, Ghana in 2023. He has previously had two solo shows, The First Amendment , The Gallery, Asmara, Eritrea (2017) and Untitled , The Gallery, Asmara, Eritrea (2019).

He has participated in several group exhibitions including Unspoken Wars , AKKA Project Gallery, Venice, Italy; Figure This II , Sarah Kravitz Gallery, London, UK; and Fictions , Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya.

Nahom Teklehaimanot

Untitled , 2024

Acrylic on canvas

190 x 140 cm

Addis Fine Art is a leading African contemporary art gallery based in Addis Ababa. The gallery was founded in 2016 by Rakeb Sile and Mesai Haileleul, with a focus on artists from Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa, and its diasporas. Since then, it has championed African artists on the international stage and established itself as a significant voice in the contemporary African art market, with Artsy dubbing it one of the “Most Important Young Galleries in the World” (Artsy 2019). It has developed an international programme showcasing emerging and midcareer artists. The gallery's Addis Ababa location has evolved into a regional incubator for undiscovered talent, exhibiting and developing the careers of emerging artists. Working alongside other local galleries and foundations, Addis Fine Art works to promote sustainable art ecosystems from the continent.

Credits:

Addis Fine Art

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