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Pillars of Life: the power and grace of market life: Tadesse Mesfin

Past exhibition
12 June - 28 July 2018 Addis Ababa Gallery
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Overview
Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Neighbours, 2018
Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Neighbours, 2018

Addis Fine Art is very privileged to present Pillars of Life: the power and grace of market life, a solo exhibition of new oil paintings by legendary modernist painter and veteran professor at the Addis Ababa School of Fine Art, Tadesse Mesfin, at Addis Fine Art Gallery 3rd Floor Wold Fiker Building, Bole Medhane Alem, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between 12 June - 28 July 2018.

 

Winner of the 1998 prestigious Mid-American Arts Alliance (MAAA) fellowship, Tadesse Mesfin was born in Weldia, Ethiopia in 1953. He attended the Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts and Design where he was taught by Gebre Kristos Desta, receiving a Diploma with a distinction. He then attended the Repin Academy of Painting, Architecture & Sculpture in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1984, where he graduated with Honours in a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting. Tadesse Mesfin has spent the last thirty-three years teaching at the Alle School of Fine Art, where he has influenced a generation of painters including, Addis Gezehagn, Dawit Abebe, and Merikokeb Berhanu.

 

His recent works are contemporary interpretations of frontal figures in columnar arrangements, influenced by ancient Egyptian sculptures and mythological drawings, infused with local colours, hinting at eastern Ethiopian cities like Harar. This sculptural arrangement celebrates the women who work as small-holder vendors in several markets around Ethiopian cities. These women typically sit with their goods laid out on the ground in front of them hoping for a customer from the crowd. These current works are reductive and minimal with the women being the sole inhabitants of the canvas. There is a rhythm, a playfulness, between these women, their neutral expressions welcoming interaction with the viewer.

 

Recent solo exhibitions include In Search of Rhythm, Alliance Ethio-Française, Addis Ababa (2014), with his work being featured in group exhibitions such as the Art of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa (2013, 2010), Continuity and Change: Three Generations of Ethiopian Artists at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida. Gainesville, Florida, USA (2007) and Four Points: African Contemporary at the Pounder-Koné Art Space in Atwater Village, California (2007). Early in his career, he was also featured in the acclaimed Second World Black and African Festival of Art and Culture (FESTAC 77) in Lagos, Nigeria (1977).

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Works
  • Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Expectations, 2018
    Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Expectations, 2018
  • Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Waiting, 2018
    Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Waiting, 2018
  • Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Hope, 2016
    Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Hope, 2016
  • Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Harmony, 2018
    Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Harmony, 2018
  • Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Saturday Market, 2018
    Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Saturday Market, 2018
  • Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Market Day, 2018
    Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Market Day, 2018
  • Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Neighbours, 2018
    Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Neighbours, 2018
  • Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Guleet, 2018
    Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: Guleet, 2018
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Installation Views
  • Img 6164
  • Img 6155
  • Img 6162
  • Img 6137
  • Img 6149
  • Img 6142
  • Img 6135
  • Img 6133
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Press
  • Intelligence Report. Artnet News

    There Is No Such Thing as the African Art Market...Yet, in “Welcome to the Age of the Art Industry”

    Rebecca Anne Proctor, Artnet News, Intelligence Report, September 10, 2019
  • Addis Fine Art Founders Mesai Haileleul and Rakeb Sile. Courtesy of Addis Fine Art

    Ethiopia’s Art Scene Has Long Suffered From a Disinterested Government. But Shifting Politics Might Soon Make Culture a

    Rebecca Anne Proctor, Artnet news, July 23, 2019
  • Tadesse Mesfin, Pillars of Life: My Sister's Keeper, 2019, Courtesy of the Artist and Addis Fine Art

    Addis Fine Art Returns to 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair London

    Claire Selvin, Artnews, June 19, 2019
  • Uncovering The Gems At Ethiopia's Addis Fine Art Gallery | Harpers Bazaar Art Arabia | Image

    Uncovering The Gems At Ethiopia's Addis Fine Art Gallery

    Rebecca Anne Proctor, Harper's Bazaar Arabia, September 9, 2018
    This link opens in a new tab.
  • Ethiopian Painter Tadesse Mesfin’s Women of the ‘Guleet’ at Addis Fine Art Image

    Ethiopian Painter Tadesse Mesfin’s Women of the ‘Guleet’ at Addis Fine Art

    Rebecca Anne Proctor, Harper's Bazaar Arabia, July 26, 2018
    This link opens in a new tab.

Related artist

  • Tadesse Mesfin

    Tadesse Mesfin

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