Tegene Kunbi – Patchwork Freedoms

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Primo Marella Gallery Milan is pleased to present for the first time at our gallery in Milan the massive solo show dedicated to the Ethiopian artist TEGENE KUNBI.

Born in 1980 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tegene Kunbi completed a Painting and Art Education degree at the Fine Arts School at the University of Addis Abeba in 2004 and went on to teach at Kotebe College Academy. With the help of the prestigious DAAD scholarship, he left Ethiopia in 2008 to study at the Universität der Künste Berlin, where he obtained a Master of Fine Arts in 2011. He has been part of multiple group and solo exhibitions in Germany and abroad as well as collaborative international projects and workshops, for example in Paris, Casablanca, New York, Nairobi, Nouakchott, and Amsterdam.
Kunbi is the winner of the Main Prize Grand Prix Léopold Sédar Senghor at Dak’Art Biennale 2022. The artist received this prestigious award directly from Macky Sall, the President of the Republic of Senegal, at the opening of the 14th Biennial of Contemporary African Art 2022.

Tegene Kunbi's works are glimpses of colour, vibrant matter capable of striking the viewer. The strong, blinding tone, the full-bodied use of brushstrokes echo a kind of primitivism: the adoration of the sight and the primal hues of the earth and of course of Ethiopia. The oil paint seems to come to life and to have its own support: from the bright greens reminiscent of expanses of grass and plants, to the bright reds and oranges, a clear reflection of the clayey depressions typical of the African land. The blues often so intense undoubtedly echo the absolute purity of the sky and sea. The tones Tegene Kunbi makes use of are those of his land, of an ancient and rich land, for many years, and too many still, forced to be on its knees. A land that is not distant and barren as it is often portrayed, but rather full, vital and graspable. That's why such textural brushstrokes are made; there is no intention of description. Kunbi does not merely wish to portray landscapes, what the artist yearns for is instead to bring out the organic nature of the soil, the frightening power of the sea and the crisp movement of the foliage. This is not a landscape shot; it is the desire for revenge, an affirmation of the entire African heritage.