- Title: ETHIOPIA: FEATURE - MODERN ART IN ADDIS ABABA
- Date: 10th January 2001
- Summary: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ETHIOPIA (RECENT AND FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF STUDENTS PAINTING AT THE FINE ARTS SCHOOL, ADDIS ABABA (4 SHOTS) 0.20 2. SV/MV PROFESSOR TADESSE MESFIN TALKING TO STUDENTS WHILE THEY WORK 0.32 3. M/S OF PAINTING 0.35 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) PROFESSOR TADESSE MESFIN SAYING: 'We have to bring people to modern art. But the problem is that we dont have any museums or galleries. All the work of our best painters is abroad, no one is gathering them here (edit). We have lots of talented painters, but we dont have an art scene, alone, with nobody to promote and support him.' 1.00 5. VARIOUS SHOWS OF STUDENT, DAWIT ABEBE PAINTING 1.23 6. SV (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) STUDENT DAWIT ABEBE SAYING: You do painting because you want to express something or liberate yourself from some feeling. Art is there to satisfy the artist first. If other people dont feel that satisfaction, then too bad. If I manage to say what I want to say through my painting, then Im happy and that's the whole point.' 1.44 7. CLOSE UP OF PAINTING ON EASEL 1.50 8. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) TADESSE MESFIN, PROFESSOR SAYING:" People want to see paintings which imitate nature, which are easy to understand. But we cannot do our work by following what people like or understand." 1.57 9. SV DAWIT ABEBE PAINTING 2.02 10. VARIOUS OF ARTIST BEHAILU BEZABIH AT WORK IN HIS STUDIO 2.15 11. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) BEZABIH SAYING: I used to paint very realistic and traditional paintings . But more and more I do this kind of work, and its not something that I decided , it just came like that." 2.29 12. GV INTERIORS OF TAITU HOTEL, ADDIS ABABA 2.35 13. VARIOUS PAINTINGS DISPLAYED ON WALLS OF HOTEL 2.39 14. GV EXTERIOR OF TAITU HOTEL 2.43 15. VARIOUS OF INTERIORS OF HOTEL/CHAIRS IN LOBBY OF HOTEL 2.54 16. VARIOUS OF ART ON DISPLAY IN HOTEL 3.06 17. CLOSE UPS OF PAINTING TITLED 'HOW LONG' BY GETACHEW YOSEF 3.21 18. VARIOUS OF ARTWORK ON DISPLAY 3.42 (RECENT) 19. VARIOUS OF EXHIBITION OF ETHIOPIAN ARTIST DANIEL TAYE'S WORK 4.06 VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ETHIOPIA (RECENT& FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 20. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) TAYE SAYING: "I think I dont really love myself. I have not gotten answers for some old questions such as where do we come from and where are we going? Im not sure about the paradise thing. I know bugs will come out of my own flesh when I'm dead. It means we are rotten from the inside." 4.26 21. VARIOUS OF TAYE'S PAINTINGS ON WALL 4.37 22. SV (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) TAYE DESCRIBING ONE OF HIS PAINTINGS SAYING: 'This dog is walking freely, but his soul is up there attached to this wall. We act like free people but were all prisoners. There are lots of impassable walls in my life that Id like to destroy.' 4.53 23. PAN MAN VIEWING ARTWORK 5.00 24. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANDREAS GETACHEW SAYING: 'It's the expression of anxiety, pain, of suffering, which is what you see all over the place in Addis Ababa, and Ethiopia, its part of our existence. 5.12 25. MORE OF PAINTINGS 5.33 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 25th January 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, ETHIOPIA
- Country: Ethiopia
- Reuters ID: LVADLN9EOHNX51OYVZMY7JMM2YC7
- Story Text: The Fine Arts School in Addis Ababa is a temple
of contemporary art in Ethiopia. The most famous
artists in the country have passed through this school,
which has just been upgraded to a university. Only
25 students are accepted into the painting department
every year, after very stiff selection.
Renowned artist Tadesse Mesfin is one of the
professors at the Addis Abeba Fine Arts School.
Many young Ethiopians long to study here, but Mesfin
says, contemporary art lacks support in the country.
Contemporary artists feel the general public, unfamiliar
with abstract forms of art, does not understand them.
Twenty-year old Dawit Abebe is one of Mesfins most
promising students. He says painting is a private
conversation between the artist and his canvas.
"You do painting because you want to express
something or liberate yourself from some feeling.
Art is there to satisfy the artist first. If other people
dont feel that satisfaction, then too bad. If I manage
to say what I want to say through my painting,
then Im happy and thats the whole point," he said.
One day, Dawit Abebe will become an artist of the same
calibre as Behailu Bezabih.
Last month Behailu had some of his paintings exhibited
in this Addis Ababa hotel. Opened in 1905, Taitu hotel is
one of the oldest lodgings in Africa, and was named after
the then Ethiopian empress. The chairs in the lobby
where a gift from Tito, the former Yugoslav leader.
And famous people such as Winston Churchill have stayed
here. Now the hotel is also an art gallery, where dozens of
artists recently participated in a retrospective of
Ethiopian modern art.
Compelling and dramatic - a painting by Getachew
Yosef entitled 'How Long', describes the suffering
of Africa, through the holes of an eyeless skull.
A traditional Ethiopian-style drawing superimposed
with a Picasso figure - symbolizes the dilemma of
Ethiopian artists : to do abstract or figurative art.
Avant-garde compositions decorate the old attic
of the hotel.
Despite the indifference of the public, some Ethiopian
artists have become successful and organise regular
exhibitions. One of them, Daniel Taye, is getting
more and more international recognition. The
Smithsonian museum in New York is planning to
buy some of his paintings. Taye is a
tortured soul, and lives with the disturbing
impression of being a stranger in this hostile world.
'I think I dont really love myself. I have not gotten
answers for some old questions such as where do
we come from and where are we going? Im not sure
about the paradise thing. I know bugs will come out
of my own flesh when I'm dead. It means we are
rotten from the inside,' Taye said.
Taye's work is sometimes puzzling, and uncovers social
pressures of an almost unbearable nature.
Some amateurs believe Tayes art reflects the situation
in the country.
One man who thinks so is Andreas Getachew, a
follower of Taye's work: 'It's the expression of
anxiety, pain, of suffering, which is what you see
all over the place in Addis Ababa, and
Ethiopia, its part of our existence.'
Ethiopia is full of sophisticated and daring
contemporary artists. But the country is poor, and
art is not a priority. If something doesn't change
soon, some exceptional talents will continue to
lurk in the shadows of anonymity.
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