About the Artist
My artistic interest dates back to my childhood. One random day, I went to my uncle’s studio and watched him paint a portrait. I was mesmerized. Growing up in my native Ethiopia, my childhood active imagination was always moved by the ragged lines, the warm colors, the expressive eyes and by ancient religious paintings in the churches. In 1982, during the height of Ethiopia’s political turbulence, I migrated to the United States to escape oppression by the military socialist regime then in power. Upon coming to the United States, I decided to pursue a career in the arts, and enrolled in the Theater and Arts Management program at Mary Baldwin University. After graduation, I immersed in many disciplines within the creative world. My true calling, I realized, was the visual art. In 1995, I had my first solo exhibition inspired by America’s original art form Jazz. In May 2000, I completed the Masters in Fine Art program at Howard University.
When I paint
Suspended like an amusing prophecy
Music expanding and contracting
in my mind’s eye
A never-ending imaginary quilt
Concocting a presence.
So many experiences become layers
My senses primal chaos within
Something budding always
Something beautiful and balanced
A portrait of my subconscious resides.
When I paint
Sensibility luring asymmetrical impressions
pieces of surfaces and charming colors
lines, textures and forms
patches of ideas, concepts,
inspirations, influences, and cultures infused.
The elements of harmony gather
dreams and suspended moments of imagination.
When I paint
This dream rhythmic voice emerging
as visual force at an interval.
It is striding, swinging and waltzing
affirm and validate the movement
One’s being begins with chaos and harmony in the horizon.
The image shifting and shuffling waiting to be created, transformed,
altered or recreated at moment’s notice.
Asymmetrical and primal method declaring
stitching and resolving the painting.