Tesfaye Urgessa

Tesfaye Geleta Urgessa (born 1983) is an Ethiopian artist from Addis Ababa, based in Germany.[1][2][3]

Career

Tesfaye Urgessa studied under Tadesse Mesfin[1] in Ethiopia. He graduated from the Ale School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa in 2006, and the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart in 2014.[2]

Urgessa was taught by professors who had studied art in Russia in the 1970s and 1980s, when the dominant art movement was socialist realism.[3] Their focus was on the study of anatomy, which influenced Urgessa’s style.[3]

At this time, through internet research, Urgessa's practice was inspired by prominent artists in Europe including Picasso, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.[3]

Themes

Tesfaye Urgessa’s images have themes of racism, class, policy brutality, injustice in politics and power.[3] He combines traditional figuration with Ethiopian iconography, Cubism, and 1980s German Neo-expressionism.[4]

Exhibitions

Urgessa exhibited in "Oltre/Beyond" at The Uffizi Gallerie in Florence in 2018,[5] and again in 2021.[6] The Uffizi also hosts his work in its permanent collection, and "Von Denen Die Auszogen" at State Galerie Villa Streccius, in Landau Germany in 2019.[4]

Exhibitions
  • 2015 Body and Soul Sympra GmbH, Stuttgart.[7]
  • 2015 Free Fall Galerie Evelyn Drewes, Hamburg.[8]
  • 2015 Untitled Galerie K, Köln, Germany.
  • 2016 Ethiopia Today - Begegnung mit Äthiopien Kunstation Kleinassen, Hofbieber-Kleinassen.[9]
  • 2016 Fremdkörper Schacher – Raum für Kunst, Stuttgart.
  • 2017 Auszeit Galerieverein Wendlingen, Wendlingen.[10]
  • 2017 Free Fall Galerie Evelyn Drewes, Hamburg.[11]
  • 2018 No Country for Young Men Galerieverein Leonberg, Leonberg.[12]
  • 2018 Oltre/Beyond, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.[13]
  • 2019 Atemzug Galerie Tobias Schrade, Ulm.[14]
  • 2019 Ich Halte Dich Festhalten Schacher – Raum für Kunst, Stuttgart.
  • 2019 No Country for Young Men Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.[15]
  • 2019 Von Denen Die Auszogen State Galerie Villa, Streccius, Landau.[16]

Awards
  • 2014 Akademiepreis der Kunstakademie Stuttgart[17]
  • 2010 Camillo-Michele-Gloria-Preis, GasVersorgung Süddeutschland, Stuttgart.

References
  1. "When He is Not in His Painting Studio, Tadesse Mesfin is Training the Next Generation of Ethiopian Artists". 24 May 2020. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  2. "Tesfaye Urgessa - Overview". NEWCHILD. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  3. "Saatchi Yates | Tesfaye Urgessa". saatchiyates.com. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  4. "The Bodies That Matter - The Figuration of Tesfaye Urgesse | Widewalls". www.widewalls.ch. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  5. Redazione. "Firenze. A Palazzo Pitti le opere di Tesfaye Urgessa". artemagazine.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  6. Julia Buckley. "One of Italy's most famous sites just reopened with a striking change". CNN. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
  7. "2. Führung mit dem Kurator durch "25 - 25 - 25"". Sympra (in German). Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  8. "Evelyn Drewes | Galerie: Tesfaye Urgessa". www.evelyndrewes.de. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  9. "Ethiopia Today - Kunststation Kleinsassen". www.kleinsassen.de. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  10. "Galerieverein Wendlingen - Tesfaye Urgessa: "Auszeit"". www.galerie-wendlingen.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  11. "Tesfaye Urgessa "free fall"". kunstaspekte.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  12. "Vergangene Ausstellungen" (in German). Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  13. "Tesfaye Urgessa. Beyond | Uffizi Galleries". www.uffizi.it. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  14. "Archiv - Galerie Tobias Schrade". www.galerie-tobias-schrade.de. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  15. "No Country for Young Men | 30 December 2019 - 15 February 2020". Addis Fine Art. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  16. Meghoo, Dr Desta (2019-12-23). "Where is the Country for Young Men?". capital Newspaper. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
  17. "Rundgang 2014: Die Preisträgerinnen und Preisträger". 2014-07-13.
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