Young artist from Addis Ababa.
Ephrem Solomon Tegegn is a young up-and-coming Ethiopian artist born in Addis Ababa in 1985. After he finished high school he went on to art school to realise his childhood dream of becoming an artist and graduated with a Diploma in Graphics from Entoto Art school 2009. Ephrem is inspired by socio-political feelings concerning human and natural life. Sometimes he paints on themes that reflect his personal experiences; things that happened to him in his past and his vision for the future. Generally, he believes life is composed of two colors: black, and white. What is real and what is not. Ephrem expresses that he sometimes feels a strong need to create paintings that are unapologetically descriptive of the things that happen in his immediate surroundings: A view of the city, people he knows, familiar hallways and spaces, or elements of nature that appeal to him. At times his work depicts a different kind of reality, one that is highly fictitious and free of the limitations of truthfully recording his experiences.
Chairs in his work express the past, present and future.
Exhibitions 2011: The embassy of the United States of America Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2010: Group Exhibition 2nd Intern. biennale of painters & sculptors (Croatia) 2009: Group Exhibition at Entoto TVET College 2007: Fine-art workshop Entoto TVET College 2006: Group Exhibition at Nairobi Goethe-institute 2006: Group Exhibition at Nairobi Alliance Francaise 2004: Group Exhibition at Addis Ababa city hall 2002: Group Exhibition at Russian center for science & culture
Chairs, slippers and contemporary Ethiopia: the work of Ephrem Solomon
Artist reflects on the way modern and traditional lifestyles both clash and combine in the present
- Karen Obling for Addis Rumble, part of the Guardian Africa Network, 18 September 2013
Exist Yellow Chair, 2013, wood cut and mixed media, measuring 73x73cm. Image: Ephrem Solomon
Ephrem Solomon’s work differs from the prevailing artistic style in Ethiopia in many ways. Although his art is also two-dimensional and on canvas, a strong graphic emphasis makes it stand out from the ever-dominant paintings, be they figurative or abstract.
Solomon was born in Addis Ababa in 1983, and developed an interest in art early. After high school he studied fine art and graphic design, which shows in his portfolio. His works is often very descriptive and literal, focusing on the world around him; the city of Addis, its people, places, spaces and nature. Objects such as the signature chair and slippers are incorporated as a reflection on broader political and social themes.
The Black Beauty. Image: Ephrem Solomon
“My works portrays the distance between what the governed people need and want and what the response is from the governors. I have tried to picture, as precisely as possible, the actual and innocent feeling of the governed,” Solomon says.
With a limited colour-scale and somewhat minimalistic style, Solomon combines the tradition of woodcut and collage with graphic design, and creates compelling contemporary artworks that balance different styles, traditions and eras. “In a world where newness has become a value in and of itself, I am more moved by the compliment that what I am doing technically feels like something from the past, while embodying something that is currently relevant,” he says.
Get up Stand up. Image: Ephrem Solomon
Solomon reflects on the different dimensions of society and time that he experiences in contemporary Ethiopia, where modern and traditional lifestyles both clash and go hand-in-hand – creating a tension that serves as an ideal playground for an artist.
Bits and pieces of old newspaper get a new life in Solomon’s hands, meticulously combined to form a patchwork on which his signature chairs and slippers stand out. Asked about the symbolism of the objects, he said the slippers represented the “ways and manners” shared with society while the chairs “symbolise the walk of an individual stepping onto the slipper’s journey”.
The Unknown Lady. Image: Ephrem Solomon
Against this backdrop, elements often perform solo – installing a sense of loneliness and absence. Nobody is sitting on the chairs, nor wearing the slippers, and people are always alone. This feeling is only emphasised by the limited colour-scope. According to Solomon this reflects a “…simplicity drawn from my personal life and experience within myself and the surrounding society, simply describing in an easy going way life”.
However, he often adds strong contrasting full bright colours to place the focus on particular objects or planes.
Exist Chair. Image: Ephrem Solomon
At once minimalistic and naïve and drawing on tradition in a contemporary scope, Solomon navigates in a vacuum of time and space, introducing viewers to elements of Ethiopian life while at once reflecting critically on them. His graphic style and signature elements provide the observer with an at once aesthetic and thought-provoking experience.