<\/o:p><\/p>Zerihun, who is a painter,\ngraphic artist, and art educator, is known for the freedom with which he uses\ndifferent art mediums in his works; he regularly uses oil paint, tempera, water\ncolor, ink, and mixed media to realize his imaginative art. The artistic\nfreedom observed in the use of subject matter and materials as well as art\nmedium in modern art history is strongly visible in Zerihun’s art. In this regard,\nin this artwork, he used mixed media on a bamboo stripe medium.<\/o:p><\/p>According to him, his works are\nlike the Ethiopian traditional metaphoric poetry known in the local tradition\nas wax and gold, and he tries to show the artist’s own world view, understanding,\nand philosophy through the different materials he uses in his paintings.<\/o:p><\/p>In Zerihun’s artworks, Africa has\na special place. His stand is reflected in the fact that he made African\ncultural traditions and knowledge the center of his artistic creativity. According\nto some experts, Zerihun\u2019s artworks explored the changes in cultural values and some aspects associated with\nthem convey the message that African traditional knowledge is the basis for the\ncustoms of Ethiopians and other Africans; hence, they should not be forgotten.\nIn other words, Zerihun went back to his history and tried to show his\nEthiopian and African identity using a sophisticated artistic language.<\/o:p><\/p>The fact that he is thoroughly\nstudying indigenous knowledge and understanding how to use it as the main\nmotives on his works is a demonstration that in the structural arrangement of\nmagical scrolls of secretive art, he regularly uses the symbols (eyes, letters,\nastrological elements, crosses, etc.) and accepted allegorical patterns. In\naddition to paying more attention to the history of African culture and art, he\nstudied the African mask, considered the most representative visual art of\nblack Africa, and included it as part of his art. It is evidence of his great\nattempt to represent his essence as a black man and the African identity\nthrough his visual text.<\/o:p><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>
In general, Zerihun’s artistic\nworks often include various expressive symbols and allegoric patterns. This\napproach, in which he tried to show the social influence of African\ncivilization and culture in the past and in the present, represented also\nZerihun’s artistic style and identity and the artist’s hardworking, based\nartistic experience. The various symbols and human figures that he used in this\nwork, as well as his profound understanding of the mystical world and esoteric\nknowledge, had been expressed in his own visual language. In this regard, it\ncan be said that Zerihun’s paintings are a social platform, and due to the\ndepth of the message they convey, they could be considered a social metaphor as\nwell.<\/o:p><\/p>\n<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This artwork, titled Reflection, represents Zerihun\u2019s artistic identity and expression. The artistic freedom and the interaction between the shapes and forms used in the paint\u0002ing are seen to create a unity with each other. This work of art makes use of the quatryptic type of panel painting and shows that the artist has a deep knowledge of the art of the Ethi\u0002opian Orthodox Church; it seems that this has
\ninfluenced the work\u2019s pictorial structure and for\u0002mal structural arrangement. This work follows a
\ndecorative and formalist method, and the artistic elements that he used in the composition are seen creating a harmony with each other. In this work, he tried to show the artistic exper\u0002imentation, which is usually seen as the main and dominant artistic feature in Zerihun\u2019s visual text.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","cpt_portfolio_group":[80,73],"class_list":["post-5110","cpt_portfolio","type-cpt_portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cpt_portfolio_group-artist","cpt_portfolio_group-george-w-lambert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abrakartgallery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cpt_portfolio\/5110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abrakartgallery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cpt_portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abrakartgallery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cpt_portfolio"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abrakartgallery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abrakartgallery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5110"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/abrakartgallery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cpt_portfolio\/5110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5819,"href":"https:\/\/abrakartgallery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cpt_portfolio\/5110\/revisions\/5819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abrakartgallery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abrakartgallery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cpt_portfolio_group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abrakartgallery.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cpt_portfolio_group?post=5110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}