Modern Art is delighted to announce an exhibition of work by the late Eritrean-born American artist Ficre Ghebreyesus. This is Ghebreyesus’s first solo exhibition in the UK.
Like a reoccurring dream that sears the mind of its dreamer, motifs and compositions are repeated throughout Ghebreyesus’s painting oeuvre. Often, bright landscapes or seascapes emerge from an otherwise abstract set of forms on the canvas. On occasion we encounter views of travellers confronting the natural world. In one work, a little girl walks towards a brightly coloured apple tree in an otherwise abstracted landscape. In another, a mountain range dimly lit by moonlight looms above what is perhaps an ethereal couple taking rest for the night. Abstraction prevails in other paintings that are similar in theme, and the greens, browns and blues of the oceans and deserts summoned by the mind are stacked impenetrably like sheets or panels.
A different reoccurring motif is that of a musician playing a string instrument, sitting, full of energy and vitality, housed in a warm interior; a loving portrayal of the feeling of home, or perhaps a yearning for one. In the largest painting, ‘Map/Quilt’ from 1999, what could be a kaleidoscopic topography simultaneously evokes the patterns and colours of Eritrean textiles. Indeed, many of Ghebreyesus’s paintings are deeply multifarious and unruly.
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