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Recent Press
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Has BLM really changed the arts?
May 25, 2021 [...] Currently having a moment is art that focuses on oppression narratives — often based on the artists’ lived experience. US artist Helina Metaferia’s 2016 video performance piece “Slow Dirt”... -
Ethical Fashion Podcast: African Contemporary Art
May 15, 2021 [...] This week we’re focused on contemporary African art. Your host is the Nigerian writer and journalist Ayodeji Rotinwa, who welcomes the renowned Ethiopian gallerist and self-taught art historian and... -
Latest News in Black Art
May 2, 2021 [...] With locations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and London, Addis Fine Art announced its European representation of Helina Metaferia, an Ethiopian American artist. Metaferia will make her solo debut with... -
Art Dubai, the First Major In-Person Art Fair Since the Pandemic, Proves That Collectors Are Ready to Show Up and Spend
April 2, 2021 [...] The fair has adopted a growing focus on art from Africa and its diaspora in recent years, and the material found an eager audience. Third-time participant Gallery 1957, with... -
African galleries set their sights on the West
April 6, 2021 [...] The fates and fortunes of African artists have, until recently, been largely shaped by outsider interests. But now, as the market for these artists grows apace, African galleries are... -
On View: Addis Fine Art is Showcasing Tadesse Mesfin, Addis Gezehagn, Tsedaye Makonnen, and Tizta Berhanu at Art Dubai
April 2, 2021 [...] NEW WORKS BY FOUR ARTISTS at different stages of their careers are being presented by Addis Fine Art at Art Dubai 2021 (March 29-April 3). Hailing from Ethiopia and... -
Addis Fine Art gallery showcases Ethiopian work at Art Dubai 2021
March 31, 2021 [...] DUBAI: The 14th edition of Art Dubai — recognized as the Middle East’s leading art fair for showcasing local, regional, and international artists — is attracting art lovers in... -
Dubai Connections: Eight Highlights at Art Dubai
March 31, 2021 [...] Ethiopian painter Tizta Berhanu has quickly become known for her expressive paintings awash with lucid colours and gentle brushstrokes through which she explores emotional relationships and human connections. Berhanu... -
Art Dubai Notches Early Sales as International Fairs Resume
March 31, 2021 [...] Rakeb Sile, whose London- and Addis Ababa–based gallery Addis Fine Art became the first Ethiopian gallery to participate in Art Dubai back in 2018, also highlighted the fair’s diverse... -
Art Dubai fair opens—in real life—with 'pay nothing up front' plan for galleries
March 29, 2021 [...] The London and Addis Ababa gallery Addis Fine Art is also participating in person. “Our main gallery is in Addis Ababa, which is in close proximity to Dubai, so... -
Rising Stars at Art Dubai 2021
March 15, 2021 [...] Ahead of this year's fair, Canvas invited participating galleries to share the names of emerging artists who they would be exhibiting in their booths. In the pages that follow,... -
A New Hybrid Auction-Fair Event Wants to De-Center the Established Art Capitals by Focusing on the Global South. Can It
March 8, 2021 [...] Rakeb Sile, director of Addis Fine Art, reported interest from new collectors and a couple of institutions in work by Ermias Kifleyesus and Tesfaye Urgessa through the OVR. But... -
Artnet Talks: Female Leaders in the Art Business on Navigating the Challenges of the Pandemic
March 5, 2021 [...] Artnet Talks is a new series of live conversations between artists, curators, gallerists, and arts professionals that brings an in-depth dimension to our usual coverage of the art world’s... -
The London Collective: How 21 of the capital’s galleries teamed up for a pandemic-proof online art space
February 22, 2021 [...] I f this were a normal year, around about now, London’s commercial art world would be just emerging from the fog of jetlag after what would have been the... -
The Rising Stars of Ethiopian Photography
February 13, 2021 [...] Ethiopia’s enormous capital, Addis Ababa, is currently undergoing unprecedented urban change. In the wake of gargantuan modernization work, a new generation of photographers is jumping energetically on this evolving... -
Art and the Home
February 4, 2021 [...] For Addis Fine Art, opening their gallery in 2020 with an inaugural exhibition of Tadesse Mesfin’s paintings at the new Cromwell Place art space coincided with Covid’s impact, but... -
Five Questions For Addis Fine Art
January 30, 2021 [...] In a short five year span, Rakeb Sile and Mesai Haileleul have grown their Ethiopian gallery, Addis Fine Art, into a powerhouse. In addition to leading the gallery scene... -
Art contemporain : face au Covid-19, le virage numérique des galeries africaines
January 20, 2021 [...] « C’est mort de chez mort », se désole la galeriste tunisienne Aïcha Gorgi, basée à Sidi Bou Saïd. Dans ce charmant village bleu et blanc perché sur les... -
Colouring Skin: On Tizta Berhanu, Thembinkosi Goniwe, and Dada Khanyisa
January 11, 2021 [...] The word ‘colour’ adapts to many interpretations; to pigment, to fill with, or even to justify. Its linguistic arch envelopes our intent as we assign it to navigate our... -
In Conversation with Tadesse Mesfin on “Pillars of Life”
December 20, 2020 [...] In October, Addis Fine Art relocated to South Kensington’s Cromwell Place in London. To mark the opening of their new space, they presented an exhibition by Ethiopian modernist Tadesse... -
On my radar: Lemn Sissay's cultural highlights
December 5, 2020 [...] It’s the first Ethiopian art gallery in British history. My tip for investors is to buy Ethiopian art now! It opened in October in west London. I went to... -
'One of the most shocking, tumultuous years on record': art market figures reflect on 2020—and guess at what 2021 might
November 25, 2020 [...] Rakeb Sile, Addis Fine Art, Addis Abbaba and London 'This period has encouraged a general openness between business owners and galleries across hierarchies. This began with crisis talks and... -
Installation View #museumshutdown | Tadesse Mesfin: Pillars of Life
November 11, 2020 [...] Hundreds of independent art and museums spaces are forced to close again due to the Corona-Crisis. In this series we are celebrating the fantastic artistic events that are right... -
The Art Market: England locks galleries down again
November 5, 2020 [...] Having reopened from June 15, and with a brief flurry of autumnal activity, England’s commercial galleries had to close again this week, as the country entered a second lockdown.... -
Tariku Shiferaw has joined Galerie Lelong’s artist roster.
October 23, 2020 [...] Tariku Shiferaw has joined Galerie Lelong & Co .’s artist roster and is scheduled to present his first solo exhibition with the gallery in spring 2021. The Ethiopian-American artist... -
In the Return of Art Fairs, Smaller Is Better
October 20, 2020 [...] Wearing a yellow face mask designed in Ethiopia, the gallerist Rakeb Sile greeted a trickle of visitors to her booth one recent morning at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art... -
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, The Only International Art Fair To Open In London This Autumn
October 9, 2020 [...] 1-54 launched in London in 2013 as the first major international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Taking its name from the 54 countries... -
Buoyed By Interest in Young African Artists, London’s Only IRL Art Fair 1-54 Shows the Value of In-Person Events
October 9, 2020 [...] Addis Fine Art, which is focused on artists from Ethiopia and its diaspora, has just opened an outpost in South Kensington at the emerging gallery hub Cromwell Place. “2020... -
Around the Galleries
October 1, 2020 [...] The London art world is gearing up for a Frieze Week like no other - without Frieze itself, and in the shadow of new lockdown restrictions for the capital,... -
Frieze fair goes virtual as art crowd stays home due to Covid
October 7, 2020 [...] London's art world usually comes alive in the first week of October as the international art fair crowd arrives in the capital for Frieze week. Last year, 125,000 visitors... -
6 Black-Owned Spaces Shaking Up The London Arts Scene
September 1, 2020 'Even though it’s less than five years old, Addis has already been named as one of the “Most Important Young Galleries in the World” by Artsy. Founders Rakeb Sile and... -
How Ethiopian art secured its spot on the world's stage
July 31, 2020 [...] Over the last five years contemporary Ethiopian artists have been making a name for themselves on the global art market, but it's been a long time coming. After almost... -
When He is Not in His Painting Studio, Tadesse Mesfin is Training the Next Generation of Ethiopian Artists
May 23, 2020 [...] A PROMINENT FIGURE in Ethiopian Modernism, Tadesse Mesfin thrives on two creative fronts: making paintings and training the next generation of artists. Women are the protagonists in Mesfin’s ongoing... -
In Addis Ababa, Creative Entrepreneurs Look Toward Ethiopia’s Future
April 30, 2020 [...] One standout pioneer in collective creativity is Rakeb Sile, cofounder of Addis Fine Art, the first contemporary art gallery in the city to offer artists international representation. Sile spent... -
An Ethiopian Gallery Enriches a Global Art Conversation
December 3, 2019 [...] With a trip to the Untitled fair in Miami, Addis Fine Art adds to the connections it’s building between Ethiopian artists and the rest of the world. “I called... -
The Most Important Young Galleries in the World
June 11, 2019 [...] It took an art dealer in Los Angeles and a business consultant in London to create Ethiopia’s most exciting young gallery. Our main space in Addis Ababa is the...
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