Tesfaye Urgessa
CV
*1983 | Addis Abeba, Ethiopia |
2006 | Alle School of Fine Art and Design, Addis Abeba |
2009–2014 | Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart, master student Prof. Cordula Güdemann |
Lives and works in Nürtingen |
Grants / Scholarships
2014 Prize of the Staatlichen Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart |
2010 Camillo-Michele-Gloria-Preis, GasVersorgung Süddeutschland, Stuttgart |
Solo exhibitions
2020 | Nach Wind greifen, Kreuzkirche, Nürtingen |
2019 | Übersehe mich nicht, Galerie Schrade, Schloß Mochental |
No country for young men, Addis Fine Art, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | |
Von denen die auszogen, Städtische Galerie Villa Streccius, Landau | |
Atemzug, Galerie Tobias Schrade, Ulm | |
oltra, Uffizien, Florence, Italy | |
2017 | Auszeit, Galerie der Stadt Wendlingen |
free fall, Evelyn Drewes | Galerie, Hamburg | |
2015 | Tesfaye Urgessa Soloshow, Nationaltheater, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia |
2011 | Attachment, Kulturverein Nürtingen |
2008 | Like ha hu, Nationaltheater, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia |
Group exhibitions
2020 | WAS MEINEN SIE, FRAU HOFFMANN?, Galerie Abtart, Stuttgart |
Ich halte dich festhalten, Schacher - Raum für Kunst, Stuttgart | |
2017 | Nachts allein im Atelier IV, Evelyn Drewes | Galerie, Hamburg |
Nackt Galerie Tobias Schrade, Ulm | |
2016 | Fremdkörper, Galerie Schacher - Raum für Kunst, Stuttgart |
2015 | Hängung #1, GersonHöger Galerie, Hamburg |
22. Bundeswettbewerb, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn | |
2014 | Debütanten-Ausstellung, Neubau II, Kunstakademie Stuttgart |
Leibeigenschaften, Schacher - Raum für Kunst, Stuttgart | |
2013 | Doppelgänger, Schacher - Raum für Kunst, Stuttgart |
2012 | Heimatrand, Klasse Güdemann, Akademie der Diözose Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Hohenheim |
One Painting, Five Artists, Akademie Solitude, Stuttgart | |
Zwischenich, Winzerverein Meersburg | |
2011 | Kunst im Kessel, Horvath und Partners, Stuttgart |
Herbstzeitlose, Galerie Strzelski, Stuttgart |
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