Tesfaye Geleta Urgessa (born 1983) is an

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

artist from

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

, based in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Career

Tesfaye Urgessa studied under Tadesse Mesfin in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. He graduated from the Ale School of Fine Arts and Design,

in 2006, and the

State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart The State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart (German: Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart) is a university in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded on 25 June 1761, and located since 1946 on the Weißenhof, the Academy, whose historical sig ...

in 2014. Urgessa was taught by professors who had studied art in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in the 1970s and 1980s, when the dominant art movement was

socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...

. Their focus was on the study of

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

, which influenced Urgessa’s style. At this time, through

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

research, Urgessa's practice was inspired by prominent artists in Europe including

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

and

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

Themes

Tesfaye Urgessa’s images have themes of

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

, class, policy brutality,

injustice Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situation, or to a larger status quo. In Western philosophy and jurisprudence, injustice is very commonly—but n ...

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and power. He combines traditional figuration with Ethiopian

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

, and 1980s German

Neo-expressionism Neo-expressionism is a style of late modernist or early- postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wilden'' ('The new wild ones'; 'Ne ...

Exhibitions

Urgessa exhibited in "Oltre/Beyond" at The Uffizi Gallerie in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

in 2018, and again in 2021. The Uffizi also hosts his work in its permanent collection, and "Von Denen Die Auszogen" at State Galerie Villa Streccius, in

Landau Landau ( pfl, Landach), officially Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990 ...

Germany in 2019.

Exhibitions

* 2015 ''Body and Soul'' Sympra GmbH, Stuttgart. * 2015 ''Free Fall'' Galerie Evelyn Drewes, Hamburg. * 2015 ''Untitled'' Galerie K, Köln, Germany. * 2016 ''Ethiopia Today - Begegnung mit Äthiopien'' Kunstation Kleinassen, Hofbieber-Kleinassen. * 2016 ''Fremdkörper'' Schacher – Raum für Kunst, Stuttgart. * 2017 ''Auszeit'' Galerieverein Wendlingen, Wendlingen. * 2017 ''Free Fall'' Galerie Evelyn Drewes, Hamburg. * 2018 ''No Country for Young Men'' Galerieverein Leonberg, Leonberg. * 2018 ''Oltre/Beyond,'' Uffizi Gallery, Florence. * 2019 ''Atemzug'' Galerie Tobias Schrade, Ulm. * 2019 ''Ich Halte Dich Festhalten'' Schacher – Raum für Kunst, Stuttgart. * 2019 ''No Country for Young Men'' Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. * 2019 ''Von Denen Die Auszogen'' State Galerie Villa, Streccius, Landau.

Awards

* 2014 Akademiepreis der Kunstakademie Stuttgart * 2010 Camillo-Michele-Gloria-Preis, GasVersorgung Süddeutschland, Stuttgart.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urgessa, Tesfaye Ethiopian artists People from Addis Ababa Living people 1983 births