Yohannes Tesfaye: The Abstract Expressionist of the Third- Generation Artists Abstract expressionism, which was highly acclaimed and motivated Ethiopian artists in the late 1960s, has again captivated several young artists. Stylistically and intentionally post-modern and different from the first generation of Abstract Expressionists, their work is not isolated from the pioneers of Ethiopian abstract and abstract expressionism. Particularly those interested in viewing art as nonrepresentational and mainly improvisational and presented a broad range of stylistic diversity. While several other artists of this generation at home and abroad are struggling for a cultural identity through their art, for Yohannes Tesfay who graduated from the Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts in 2001, at the age of 23, and for few others, abstract expressionism has become a viable artistic and stylistic identity. That Yohannes is one of the third-generation abstract expressionist’s artists, able to revive Abstract expressionism in post Derg Ethiopia testifies to the ongoing challenges of painting in Addis. Yohannes’ art indeed evokes neo-dadaism and neo-expressionism. It is also tempting to imagine its affinities to the abstract expressionism of Western countries. But from the Ethiopian modern art historical perspective, his oeuvre falls right in the center of the Ethiopian modernism of the late 1960s and 1970s. I was not surprised when he told me that he is most influenced and impressed by the art and artistic philosophy of Yohaness Gedamu. Yohaness Gedamu who studied under Gebre Kristos Desta, the pioneer of Ethiopian abstract art just like several artists of his generation, had lost faith in the artistic styles of the early days of the Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts and had shared the experience and beliefs of the pioneers of Ethiopian Modernism. He is probably the only artist of his generation who remains committed to abstract expressionism. In 2001, while I was vacationing in Addis, I watched an Ethiopian TV interview of Yohaness Gedamu. The interviewer asked him about his work. In fact I found it a bit troubling that a veteran artist who had taken the path to the absolute had to reduce his work to a few words for a television audience. To begin with, his kind of work needs no explanation, simply because it is independent of its creator. As he told the journalist, everybody is entitled to figure out what it is and see and understand it in his or her own way. The young Yohannes was able to learn under the prominent Tadesse Mesfin at the Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts and became an artist in his own right. Soon after his graduation, he worked with Yohannes Gedamu in restoring an old mural work in Addis Ababa Trinity cathedral. While working with Yohannes Gedamu he was able to share many experiences and beliefs and was impressed by the work and the artistic philosophy of the elder artist. His studies at the School of Fine Arts and the encounter with Yohannes Gedamu as well as his sojourns in Russia, Germany, and now the United States have given the young Yohannes a rich combination of experiences. At the same time I can’t help thinking of Yohannes creative vision without taking into consideration his country’s current situation. He however, doesn’t seem to be affected by ethnic or national identity or political crises. He is totally at ease and only concerned with his art. All of his works at the Addis Art Gallery in Los Angeles, done in 2005, draw their strength from the young artist’s artistic experience. His works are acrylic, oil paint on canvases and wood, Plexiglas / fiberglass - mixed media with or without support. The intentional or unintentional color in his work, create tension. The drip, the brushstroke, the scratch are all coordinated and generate uncomfortable impressions. The tangled and straightened clear or painted Plexiglas/fiberglass suggest depth or enormity. Each piece seems given attention inadvertently during its creation. In the end no piece looks like what it is made of, doesn’t show how it was created or all the effort, planning, studying and symbolizing that were invested in it. It simply unleashes a pleasantly mysterious or enigmatic world of its own and raises many thoughts and memories. The color experience I have in contact with the work is daunting. I am not sure whether the colors I see are the colors he has painted or the colors I have in my mind. The specific color experience I draw from any of his work is one thing today different the next. It stops only when I associate it with a familiar object, experience or search its symbolic meaning. Associating it with my personal experience, however, is unavoidable. And that is where the depth of his work comes to mind: it moves and troubles my psyche. This effect is even greater with the works in fiberglass. With their mangled forms and dripping bloody color, they constantly change from their physical reality to concealed idea and vice-versa in my mind. Even without any sound or reference, I hear them scream. I suspect many others as well would listen to the scream. As the relation of titles to paintings in Abstract Expressionist practice was never clear-cut; all 31 of his works are untitled. He never wants to give us false direction or hint at the meaning of his work by giving it a title. Just as Yohannes Gedamu told the TV journalists that we are at liberty to figure out what is in his work, I didn’t want any clues to the meaning of the work. Yohannes has given me that liberty to unravel his work my way only by looking at it. I know there is more in his work than what I thought I saw, more than I thought, imagined, understood and like to talk and write about. At this time in history, there is no artist who wants to imagine, say more and see the world in a different prism more than an Ethiopian artist does. I see Yohannes intellect and artistic confidence bringing him into the company of Ethiopian abstract expressionist artists of the late 1960s The Addis Art Gallery owner, Messai Haileluel describes Yohannes as a “seasoned painter.” In this post-modern age of ethnic cleansing, political and identity crises and religious fundamentalism, the sincerity and determination of Yohannes and his conscious decision to follow the tradition of Ethiopian modernists needs to be acknowledged. By: Esseye Medhin, 2005