Tesfaye Bekele by AddisFineArt1

Tesfaye Bekele

Tesfaye Bekele

Tesfaye Bekele (b. 1982) grew up in Addis Ababa during a shifting cultural and political landscape in the country. He became interested in drawing as a young child as a means of documenting his community, and in 2007 he entered the Addis Ababa University Alle School of Fine Arts and Design to pursue a degree in Art Education. Bekele currently teaches at the School of Fine Arts, and his work has been included in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Germany.

Bekele begins his large-scale fluid abstractions with his canvas on the floor. With a brush fixed to the end of a long stick, which he uses like an extended arm, he drips and pulls skeins of thinned paint across the surface to create a gestural skeleton of interwoven lines. Balancing his body on a pair of metal crutches, he sways gently back and forth to create sweeping lines that remain charged with movement.

With a background in biology and physiology, Bekele’s works are informed by his knowledge of the synapses, muscles, and bones of the human body. These intricate anatomical networks are reflected in the vibrant forms that twist across his canvases, pulsing with the energetic echo of the artist’s physical manoeuvres, and resulting in powerful expressions that embody a desire to overcome limitations and find fulfilment in the freedom of artistic creation.

Tesfaye Bekele

Acrylic on canvas

160 × 150 cm

Acrylic on canvas

160 × 150 cm

Junction , 2023

Acrylic on canvas

200 × 144.5 cm

200

Sprout , 2023

Acrylic on canvas

× 144 cm

Seed in the Crack , 2023

Acrylic on canvas

200 × 145 cm

200

Knots , 2023

Acrylic on canvas

× 144 cm

Patches 1 , 2023

Acrylic on canvas

145 × 145 cm

Patches 2 , 2023

Acrylic on canvas

145 × 145 cm

Track , 2023

Acrylic on canvas

145 × 145 cm

Mirage , 2023

Acrylic on canvas

145 × 145 cm

Sandy Road , 2023

Acrylic on canvas

145 × 145 cm

Blue , 2023

Acrylic on canvas

200 × 165 cm

Installation view: Energy Circles , 2023, Addis Fine Art, Addis Ababa

Born 1982 in Ethiopia.

Lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

EDUCATION

2016 MFA – Fine Art, Addis Ababa University, Alle School of Fine Arts Design

2010 BFA – Art Education, Addis Ababa University, Alle School of Fine Arts and Design

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 Energy Circles , Addis Fine Art, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2016 Lived Thought , Guramayne Art center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2015 Cross Roads, LeLa Art Gallery, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024 Connected Threads , Addis Fine Art, NADA Space, New York, USA

2022 Unity , Betzwerk Gallery, Trier, Germany

2022 Soulful Resistance , Gebre Kiristos Desta Museum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2021 Expansive Corridor , Gebre Kiristos Desta Museum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2019 Behind This Face (The Human Face Evolution in Painting), Gravitart Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya

2018 Conflicts in the Narrative , Gravitart Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya

2017 Kiremt Show , Lela Art Gallery, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2016 Currents , Lela Art Gallery, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2015 Addis Contemporary , Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya

2014 Annual Art Show (Fair), Addis Millennium Hall, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2013 Art of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2013 Heart to Heart , National Theatre Art Gallery, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2013 Wax and Gold , Netsa Art Village Gallery, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2012 Netsa Art Village Gallery, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2011 Fana Wogi, Museum of Modern Art, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2011 Art of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2011 Atelier Fine Art Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2010 Integration , Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

MAIN RESEARCH PROJECTS

Ongoing Gize Artist Collective, Collaborative Art Practices and Projects

2016 Spaces of Commoning, Vienna, Austria

CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS

2019 To Care is to Become Interdisciplinary Artistic Project, Alle School of Fine Art and Design, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2015 Commoning and Artistic Practices , Seminar Participant, European Forum, Alpbach, Austria

2014 Acting Archives , Joint Institutional Research Project with the Institute for Spatial Experiments – Berlin Art Academy, funded by the TURN Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Berlin, Germany

AWARDS AND JURY

2011 Fana Wogi Award Recipient, Gebre Kiristos Desta Museum of Modern Art

2012 Fana Wogi Award Jury Member, Gebre Kiristos Desta Museum of Modern Art

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.

Addis Fine Art

21 Eastcastle Street

London W1W 8DD

Credits: Addis Fine Art

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