Circle is pleased to present RE:PUBLIC, by Tegene Kunbi (Ethiopian, b. 1980) and Robel Temesgen (Ethiopian b.1987), both exhibiting in Nairobi for the first time. In this exhibition, these artists explore the significance of everyday objects through painting and sculpture.
Robel Temesgen explores the material quality of jebena (Ethiopian coffee pots) as a way to interrogate the socio-political landscape in Ethiopia. Boundaries and dysfunction, control and containment are depicted through delicate paintings and deconstructed ceramics. Taking the jebena as a starting point, Temesgen distorts and embellishes colours and patterns to create dreamlike imagery that is at times unrecognisable from their original state. The paintings, often showing jebenas leaning over, are the artist’s reflections on the unstable ground Ethiopia finds itself in presently. Rapid urban development, the effects of smart technology and the growing digital economy leads us to question the transformative position we find ourselves in individually and geopolitically.
Tegene Kunbi’s abstract paintings further explore this state of transformation. Colours are flattened then painted over again and again to create rich textural forms. Blocks of tones from his distinct palette are compartmentalized and reworked, forcing the edges to bleed into one other. At times, this confrontation makes it difficult to decipher the sequence in which the tones were applied, hidden, then revealed once more. The artist draws on his cultural duality, his migration from Ethiopia to Germany and the respective rituals and rhythms of these two societies, which he collides on the canvas. This creative process, evident in the textured marks, reflects the unpredictability in the ebb and flow of assimilation.
Tegene Kunbi (b. 1980, Ethiopia)
Tegene Kunbi is an abstract painter based in Berlin. He graduated with a BFA from the Alle School of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa (2004), Ethiopia and did his MFA at the Universitȁt der Kűnste Berlin (2011). His paintings often depict seemingly flattened landscapes that upon closer inspection, are composed of layer upon layer of subtle and vibrant tones of paint. In 2018, his work was part of the ‘Best of Galerie Ketken’ exhibition at Galerie Gerken, Berlin, Germany and featured in the 13th edition of the Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art, Senegal.
Robel Temesgen (b. 1987, Ethiopia)
Robel Temesgen received MFA in Contemporary Art from Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art and Creative Writing, University of Tromsø, Norway (2015) and a BFA in Painting from Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa University (2010). His practice focuses on painting and encompasses elements of performance, installation, video and collaborative projects. In 2018, he had three solo exhibitions, Confluence (Tiwani Contemporary, London, UK) Floating Jebenas (Fendika Cultural Center, (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) and Min Nebere? (Modern Art Museum, Gebre Kristos Desta Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia). He is a Lecturer at the Department of Painting, Alle School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa University.
Guzo Art Projects
In 2014, artists Wanja Kimani and Ephrem Solomon co-founded Guzo Art Studio in Addis Ababa in order to share information and ideas among local artists. In 2018, Guzo Art Projects was launched to develop further exchange by curating international exhibitions and events in borrowed spaces. In 2018, they hosted a group exhibition featuring works by Osborne Macharia, Dennis Muraguri, and Ephrem Solomon at 508 Gallery in London and in 2019 participated in Art Dubai with a solo presentation of works by Wanja Kimani.
Wanja Kimani (b. 1986, Kenya)
Wanja Kimani received her BFA from the University of Creative Arts, Canterbury, UK and an MA in Human Rights from the University of Essex, UK (2010). She is a visual artist and researcher based in Cambridgeshire, UK. Through film, textiles, and installation, her work explores memory, trauma and the fluidity within social structures that are designed to care and protect but mutate into coercive forces within society. She has previously shown in the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Art Paris Art Fair, Paris and 13th edition of the Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art, Senegal.