Digital
art at RICO'S
The monitor is the
canvas
By
Selome Kifle
Seifu Abebe and
Biru Worku were well trained by Cactus Plc. in digital imaging while
working as graphic designers. Their experience as graphics designers
encouraged both of them to continued exploring ideas in digital art.
Cactus has contributed a great deal towards making their dreams come
true over the years.
Finally they felt that they were ready to display their newfound love
for digital images to art lovers at the Rico's Restaurant. The exhibit
attempts to show the public the marriage between the world of fine art
and digital art. According to the artists digital art is considered as
one of the more popular forms of art these days and they are proud to
be part of that digital extension in Ethiopia. "We consider the
monitor as our canvas, the mouse as our tool for painting and it makes
everything easy for us" said Seifu.
Artist Seifu is displaying 5 pieces works using sizzling colors in all
of them He definitely likes hot colors (red, yellow and green)
specially the color red. He says, " I like hot colors, specially red
colors. I don't like to see bad things happened to people, I think
that’s why I subconsciously use warm colors.”
Describing his work tilted ‘Ballet Dance’ he said that ballet is like
a painting in motion and a lot of times, he finds himself identifying
his work with that form of classical art form.
Siefu gets inspiration to paint in the middle of the night because he
needs a peaceful and quite environment for his creative mind. He is an
admirer of Samuel Sharow and his style of cave art.
Artist Seifu had participated in a group exhibition including at the
African Jazz Mender, and Makush.
Biru Worku, presents 4 digital works of art also using hot colors
depending to the theme and the idea. “Before I started to work in
digital art, I seldom used hot colors but now I usually paint with it
” said the artist.
According to Biru the similarities between painting on the canvas or
he calls it Analog art and the digital art is that they both have the
idea of painted on the canvas. He also pointed out the difference
between the two types of art is that in digital art red, green and
blue colors can be combined to produce different types of colors,
including vibrant colors but in analog art red, yellow and blue colors
can be combined together to produce different types of colors. Biru is
an admirer of the great Italian Artist Michael Angelo’s for his great
compositions and the Pablo Picasso for introducing the world to
Cubism.
Biru Worku had participated in a group exhibition including Alliance
Ethio-franciase, Sheraton Addis, Makush Art Gallery, Goshu art Gallery
and in one solo exhibition at Belgium Embassy.
Both artists are graduates in painting from Addis Ababa Fine Art
School in 1996 and Currently they are still working as a graphics
designer at Cactus plc.
Welcome home party, from DJ
Kin
On Christmas Eve
His sound is
very familiar to most of his fans in Addis and the surrounding towns
from his nightly session on FM Radio Addis. He happens to be the most
popular DJ with a unique style. DJ Kin is going to celebrate his 10
Anniversary as a DJ at the Greek Club on the eve of the Ethiopian
Charismas (January 6, 2003) here in Addis.
He thought it was important to celebrate his 10th anniversary this
time of the year so that it would coincide with the arrival of
thousands of Ethiopians from the Diaspora for the holiday season.
Large crowds will enjoy his music. “It is like a welcome home party
for the Ethiopian returnees, I am trying to involve people that I know
for ten years and this occasion is different from the other events
that I have organized. In the past several years I have organized
these kinds of events at a much smaller scale” he said.
In his program Kin has invited Sidney Solomon, a very well known
Reggae musician to perform 5 live musical pieces to entertain the
guests. Asked why he didn’t include some Ethiopian musicians. His
response was that the Habesha musicians don’t have instrumental
versions of their music.
Recalling earlier days of his carrier, he said that the music classes
he took while he was in high school helped him a great deal. He
started his career in 1993 playing at the Black & white Club and in
the beginning he had to struggle to get to know people and for the
crowd to get to know him.
Popularly known for his activities in schools while campaigning for
HIV awareness among the young generation, he is also one of the first
DJs to arrange and compose an album for Nini Mekonnen. In the
immediate future, he simply wants to expand his particular musical
corner big time.
Currently Kin’s gigs are with FM Radio and the Gas Light at the
Sheraton Addis, and his media promotion and consultancy. He was also
the DJ at Black & White starting from 1993-1998 and in the club Torero
starting from 1997-1998 as well.
Mixed art @ Hilton
By
Selome Kifle
Four young up
and coming Artists namely Senafikiesh Zeleke, Alem Teklu, Tesema
Temtem and Ferayzer Aklilu display their 26 works of art for three
consecutive days at Hilton Hotel beginning on December 24, 2003. Other
than paintings by the different artists, this exhibition also features
wood engraving and sculpture.
The
organizer W/t Tirist Mengesha, said that the aim of the exhibition is
to highlight the different art forms, from different places, to
promote art and to create a favorable environment for the artists to
present their work with well known artists. Speaking on how she came
up with ideas for the exhibition, she said that she is a lover and
admirer of art especially wood engraving and sculpture and she decided
to exhibit them with paintings.
The six
pieces of sculpture on display by Alem Teklu are all made from gypsum.
But what is surprising to the art lover is that half of them resemble
marble. “I tried to show marble colors in my work, but all of them are
made with Gypsum” Said Alem. She categorized her works as modern art
with a flat form. She admires the works of Henry Ramón.
Speaking
on how she end up doing sculpture she said when she was a 3rd year
student in art school, she enrolled in the department of sculpture
because her teachers told her to select sculpture because they thought
she had a hidden talent. She graduated with distinction in sculpture
in 1994 G.C.
Commenting
on the development of Art in Ethiopia she said that nowadays art is
very much growing but the perception of the Ethiopian people for art
must be changed.
The
exhibited artwork are all for sale ranging in price from 1,200 to
2,500 birr.
|
Tuesday
January 6, 2004
