I try to paint as I would talk to a friend with whom I can share anything. As a painter, every day when I go to the studio, I always let myself be surprised by what happens during the creative process. It doesn’t matter if my thoughts are unorganized or I have no ideas while I’m working – or if I willingly embrace them whenever they do emerge. For me, the whole painting process is based on knowing from experience that there is nothing that I paint that has not in some way to do with myself and my environment. 

Whenever I paint, I try not to portray particular people that I know, even though they have initiated many thoughts over the course of my work. What interests me is the physical make-up of people, how they evolve regarding political and societal relationships. So people are the most important elements in my pictures. They’re a kind of language, a concept, embodied in human flesh. It is for this reason that I am also interested in their nakedness and exposure. In a certain way they uncover a part of that reality that we often hide in a stubborn, calculated, and artificial way. I take great trouble to make my figures appear as animated as possible – not in the sense of a perfect adaptation of their shell but rather like a helium balloon in human form and corresponding colour. The representation of skin is therefore also of minor importance for me.

Tesfaye Urgessa