Tesfaye Urgessa.
Photo: Photo by Kameron Cooper. Courtesy of Tesfaye Urgessa and Saatchi Yates
Artist to Watch: Tesfaye Urgessa’s Powerful Paintings Reflectively Tackle Exclusion and Resilience
The artist behind the first-ever Ethiopian pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale caused a stir for his poetic works that merge Ethiopian iconography with traditional figurative painting
At Palazzo Bollani in Venice, a historic palace overlooking the Rio della Pietà, a group of expressively painted abstract figures seem to writhe in personal and collective agony as if descending into the chaos that surrounds them. These works, rendered in a mix of darkened, somber hues, are the vision of Ethiopian artist Tesfaye Urgessa, who is representing his country in its first-ever pavilion at the Venice Biennale, on view through November 24.
Zahlen und Daten 1. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Saatchi Yates
Zahlen und Daten 2. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Saatchi Yates
Titled “Prejudice and Belonging,” the pieces depict how his own experience with prejudice profoundly shaped his artistic practice. At once startling, mesmerizing, and otherworldly, the canvases are filled with thick oil brushstrokes to showcase the movement and expression of his subjects as they tackle themes of belonging, exclusion, identity, and resilience. “My figures are depicted with an emotional vulnerability,” says the artist of these bodies, with their sinewy, disjointed limbs, seeking solace, recognition, and justice. “While they are fragile and in the process of healing, they are also determined and strong. They have not been defeated.”
"Society has a strong tendency to reduce the human being into categories. I am doing the opposite."
Tesfaye Urgessa
Born in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, Urgessa studied under the guidance of artist Tadesse Mesfin. He then furthered his education at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart, where he discovered German Neo-Expressionism and the London School of Painters, both of which have inspired his own imagery.
Urgessa remained in Germany for 13 years, which helped him form his own distinctive aesthetic language: a merging of Ethiopian iconography with traditional figurative paining to explore the subject of race and identity within domestic settings. “People often believe I am painting victims in my canvases, but this isn’t the case,” he says.
Ethiopia Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Saatchi Yates
“Society has a strong tendency to reduce the human being into categories,” continues Urgessa, who had a standout solo exhibition delving into similar themes at Saatchi Yates in the spring. “I am doing the opposite. I’m trying to portray the human figure in its totality with its confidence, struggles, scars—all its challenges and strains. My figures are not black or white. They are fragile and confident. They represent everyone. They show human beings made from the commonalities between us all.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Fall Issue in the “Artists to Watch” section. Subscribe to the magazine.
Cover: Tesfaye Urgessa.
Photo: Photo by Kameron Cooper. Courtesy of Tesfaye Urgessa and Saatchi Yates
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