I used to paint when I was in art school and a little bit after. Eventually, I stopped while I was concentrating on improving my design skills for my career as a designer.
Now I just like to enjoy the fine arts. I keep up with what’s going on in the art world via the internet. As far as Ethiopian art and artists are concerned I am with most in the Ethiopian fine art community that there was a period in which our art was not making significant socio political commentary.
Outside of the big names that have been present since the 70’s and just like music there haven’t been major movements. But this is another topic that should be its own topic.
Now I would like to introduce to you Ezra Wube, whose work I was first introduced to years ago in 2004. I have sporadically following his work through the last couple of years.
From the amount of work coming out on his website, it seems like he is and has been working full time.
I bought the above painting called Azenes because I like the ambiguous use of physical space in the image and the colors and the depth of field in the fabrics.
I thought they were going to Leqso in special local clothing. I was attracted to the sadness but the Azene serious of painting according to the Artist:
My current Azene paintings are based on my visit to Ethiopia in August 2008. Azene is short for Gojam Azene which is the name given to a type of new colorful fabrics. Gojam is a region in the northeast, and Azene means he is sad. When I previously visited the Gojam market in 2004, the villagers wore traditional clothes.
Traditional clothes are made from cotton; they are mainly white with a strip of colorful design along the edges, visually unifying the people, creating oneness. Traditional clothes are made from scratch by the individual’s family member.
In my visit to Goajm’s market in August 2008, these traditional clothes were being replaced by Gojam Azene. Visually separating the people, these new industrial, acrylic, synthetic fabrics seemed to be favored by the villagers. They are cheap, light to wear and offer various color choices, however, it can be seen as one of the first signs of modernism erasing tradition.
Wow, so I am very excited about these painting hanging in my living room not only because of the commentary in Ethiopian tradition but also its contemporary modernism observations.
There are a few imperfect things that annoy me about the painting but I am trying to overlook them as no work is perfect, thus I don’t want to make a comment on it. I just didn’t want to shamelessly plug my painting.
More on Ezra on Abesha; and a real Gojam Azene
Published by September 18th, 2009 in Current Issues and Design.
Nice Article Nolawi…
When did you purchase the above painting?
i like ezra’s pieces.. he’s unique!
last week dawit!
Thanks for introducing us to Ezra. He is extremely talented.
and i like want you had to say about “not making significant socio political commentary”
I was just checking out his website…very impressive art work!
oh oh oh. envy!
I love that work!
the art is too flat
Hey Nolawi, nice article and I like the painting. We need more people supporting our talented Ethiopian artists.
you know, i have always thought the deep green, blues and purples and red hues worn by gojjame/gonder/wello villagers were visually delightful. such rich tones, striking but in harmony with the colors of nature surrounding them. and the head wraps worn by the men, just beautiful.
im a country girl at heart.
p.s. it IS a shameless plug of your painting but thats koo b.c it is YOUR website.
but i wonder, why do the villagers call the new polyester clothing, Azene. for what reason did they give it such a sad name??
I learned that what I first considered imperfections in drawings, paintings often turn out to be the artist’s signature and rather intentional. I like it.
@ Liya:
i disagree with the imperfection being intentional.. but agree on signatures…
like the two repeating hats here
Coincidentally I heard about him a lot lately. One of the things i heard is that he has a manger that completely controls him and doesn’t give him any freedom. I don’t know if it’s true but apparently this is a problem in the artist community in Ethiopia. Sharks from the US go to Ethiopia promising them the world and end up taking advantage of them.
Nol,
I dont know about this particular artist but managers being hard on artists is very common and it usually benefits the artist. Managers are usually focused on the market and put pressure on the artists to make their art acceptable to the market….Otherwise artisits being the weird creatures they are, they will be lost in their own world.
The most successful artisits are not necessarily the best artists. They are the ones that have the ability to keep a good balance of art for the market on one hand and art for art’s sake on the other.
So now there is a painting in your living room wall huh? The minimalist Nolawi… you know the saying kes be kes enKulal be’egru yihedal
I loved the painting though.
@ Nightingale:
thanks for my first laugh of the day….
i don’t know who you are but its been a while.. i really missed your comments..
ah aha ahha a besaq motku eko
@ Shtoni and Nolawi, The reason they call it “Gojam Azene” is because the price of traditional blanket made from Cotton was high during the transition period between Derg and woyanne. The Gojames were not happy about the price at that time and started buying this colorful locally made blanket as a substitution. So they named it Gojam-Azene to express their disappointment on the current government and the price of the cotton blanket. Nolawi, now you know more about the story of your painting
@ Aradaw:
How can I thanks you for the insight…
Dear family,
First I would really like to thank Nolawi for writing this bolg and his continuos support. Thank you all for the comments that you made about my work. Please let me know if you have any questions. Melkam bealat!
Contact me asap please!
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