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Behailu Bezabih (Kine)
Towards a New Realism
Although Behailu’s work does not pretend to be sophisticated, his artistic approach is puzzling. One asks: how does an artist who spent several years in a rigorous and strict disciplinary training indulge in aesthetic configurations hitherto employed by “non-artists” such as children, folk artists, and self-taught amateur artists? It is kind of unfashionable question to artists, and probably irrelevant to anyone who does not have the cultural obligation to care. But it points to an interesting, broader issue. How can one describe or express his feeling intensely and fully particularly in painting? Whatever the answer maybe, at the moment, what is at stake is our vision both of us and of our society. The evocative nature at the heart of Behailu’s art is a sign of our own longing related to our own general malaise. It would therefore be a mistake to assume that Behailu is merely reflecting the changing tastes. Since 1990, he has been creating and showing his new realism, which is formally simple and naïve but depicting the predicament of a failing system. The works appear casual and laconic and the subjects are taken from urban setting. He paints directly without relying upon preparatory sketches with fresh and bright colors in a spontaneous and inspirational process. The finished work seems to be effortless and cut down to its lowest denominator driving from the basic forms of motifs as well as from the raw and exposed handling of the paint. The work has a colorful reality where order is absent and chaos reigns, but simultaneously displays an immense, superficial feeling of a lavish carnival. Behailu did not find this form of expression as one might at first suspect, from international contemporary art, which seems to have been favored since the beginning of the twentieth century. Instead, he spontaneously develops his approach primarily inspired by the free, pure, and fresh form of expression that comes from the innocent eyes and minds of children, which is not concerned with the naturalistic form of representation, that is taught and expected for students to learn. He said, “In the beginning of my career, I painted naturalistically, the way I was taught at school. Later, I learned that it was not the only way, and my approach to painting changed gradually. Since I am a school art teacher, the works of my students have influenced or inspired me. Through time, I have developed a certain style that I let it grow in me and follow its own course. So far I manage to express myself effectively…” The origins of his new form of expression are also undeniably consciously or subconsciously derived from the signs and posters that crowd our cities and towns especially in the vicinity and shackle neighborhood of Addis. Those colorful, simplistic and direct works posted on private edifices of Tejj Bet, Sega Bet, Tella Bet, Injera Bet, Dabo Bet and Buna Bet works by self-taught artists, who are respected and revered by the community. Another potential source and inspiration would be those works by a generation of self-taught illustrators and commercial artists, some of whom have been influenced by the unique form of art that flourished for centuries in the churches and monasteries of highland Ethiopia. These are the art works that crowded our souvenir shops and represent Contemporary Ethiopian art among the general population. It is hard to find any resemblance with the rest of contemporary Ethiopian artists work (This was indicated by Bekele Mekonnen on Behailu: I’m still on the road, 2000), not even with the works of his close friends and classmates, the prominent painters Mezgebu Tessema and Mulugeta Tafesse. It is also hard to trace his antecedent in the glorious art of Ethiopia that historians associate with the Art of the Byzantine world. However, there is an interesting side to his images. They belong to the honored Ethiopian tradition of simplification; they also have multiple roots, as did the Ethiopian art. There are all possible convincing reasons to place Behailu’s art in the tradition of Ethiopian art that flourishes between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It has its roots in the art created during these periods of turmoil and uncertainty that represent the passion of a turbulent era - a psyche that projects the realism of the Ethiopia then. The point I want to make is not so much about the problematic questions of influence and inspiration of Behailu. But to indicate why, how and when the artist can rise against a given notion or approach taken thus transforming himself, and making a personal change in order to be effective in his artistic expression and creativity. We have seen through out history that a reflective and conscious artist usually emerges during periods of conflict with idiom inherited from the grass roots and the popular culture. Behailu passionately uses the plastic language of ordinary people who have no formal training and through this he creates an art, which becomes a personal, powerful expression of his profound feelings. In almost all of his recent works we notice a consistent iconography, which represent modes of transportation: public buses, motor cars, Gari, and bicycles, vans and livestock vans. These mechanical means of transportation which are not conventional subject matter in contemporary Ethiopian painting become his obsession. The vans, trucks and buses which are of greatest necessity but of a painful ritual rather than pleasurable outcome help him distances from the predictable, and create a carnival atmosphere where carnivals do not exist. With these subject matters he presented the realities of our urban condition. Describing and depicting the dilapidation of the infrastructure and contradictions of our “Modern Cities,” he exposes the incapacitated and the incoherent system In Gabriel watch over me, a gloomy but charming female, with wide-open eyes and tattooed neck ride a bicycle. The titular phrase written on the painting intensifies in all circumstance the prayer of the passenger or rider, to be saved from the catastrophe of the bicycle ride- the frequent transportation accident that may happen any time during the ride. Somali Tera as in the Gabriel watch over me defies our sense of the real world, and seems to be a caricature of the real and the irrational world of dreams. But it is the graffiti of the real world, a reflection of the confusion and chronic transportation problems we see in our cities. In the congested and messy chain of pubic buses in the rush hours parade of the buses like in Legehar ” Katcahmali or From Mexico Square to French Legation the passengers seem resigned to the injustices of society. In these paintings, no space is left to ease the torment of dullness. One can only speculate about the pain, disgust, or fear of the passengers. How do the bus, and the Katchamali and the van passengers hold on? What kind of passenger will risk his life and ride, squeeze, jammed and totally unconcerned, and venture to a destination – probably a destination unknown except for the livestock? Who are the passengers and who is the driver of the buses, vans and Kachamali? We will never know, they are all masked. In Untitled an absurdity, a ridiculous, animal-like creature, carrying three individuals, and things is inflated with anger and violence. With eyes wide open, the creature grins out of anger and frustration of the heavy load. The animal, the beast of burden, does not move rather seems to be in constant pain, cannot complain of his condition but only in his expression. Even though it seems more powerful more vital than the passengers do and well situated to flip them away. Behailu’s artistic metaphors are infused with attacking chronic problems, while simultaneously reflecting their psychosomatic nature. Tortured to tell the truth, the truth about the wrong, he drags us to see our all too familiar depressing conditions, via unfamiliar, innocent looking, but contemptuously depicted tableaus. We feel his torment even if we are confused by his artistic approach. “I paint the things I know, my personal experiences and things that have affected and puzzled me, and that have raised questions in my thoughts. I am not painting necessarily to answer these questions, but just to get a kind of relief from my thoughts,” he said, referring to his recent paintings. Behailu is not trying to charm or seduce us with his talent or eloquence and his paintings are not meant for their own end. Instead, they take us inside a hideous reality, and invite us to witness of a disastrous situation. The form and content of his works are intended to shock, choke, nag, and irritate us until we are awakened from our delusions. It is like a prescription for correcting the vision of a myopic system. Addis Ababa has never seen figure painting of such unrelenting sincerity and exasperation with so original and authority from a well-trained artist. As he rises against all local artistic standards and transcends his training, Behailu is simultaneously attacking the inefficient artistic “policy.” Discouraged with what is occurring in Addis, he says, “the artistic movements and approaches abroad are also here. However we are so handicapped by the system. There are more galleries, museums, and other facilities for artists abroad, whereas here, we do not even have a single place to purchase art supplies. Even now we are not allowed to organize art shows that we think are important for the community. Just last year we tried to organize street Art Show on Churchill Road on the subject of AIDS. Not only we were discouraged to do so but also we were even asked to pay fees for the street fences, like any other companies who pays to advertise…this is ridiculous. We have to change ourselves, we have to try change others, I think that everything has to change” All quotations are taken from a conversation with author, February 2001. By: Esseye Medhin |
