Birhane Worede
Birhane Worede’s captivated figures inhabit timeless, formless and spaceless worlds which engage only with colour, gesture and surface. Worede’s loose, washy works are reductive - exploring colour and emotion to allow his gestural hand to take centre stage, effortlessly shifting between figuration and abstraction. His figures often appear captivated by the devices they hold, navigating online social spaces rather than physical ones - a concept which is reflected in the voids they occupy. Worede ruminates on these figures disconnect from their environment as a result of being tied to their phone, leaving the spaces they occupy somewhat un-rendered. Working with oil paint on canvas, Worede’s works are somewhat improvised, shifting and transforming as the artist engages with space, surface and colour. Reducing his composition to simply colour and shape, Worede sees his process as one akin to abstraction, only adding line and form at the end when he decides to pick out a figure from the rich, lush swathes of colour he has laid down. Worede’s works play with mood, oscillating between cool and warm palettes which are always punctuated by marks in the opposite hue. Worede grew up in Addis Ababa and was inspired by the frantic nature of the world famous Merkato - often sketching figures, ideas and colours inspired by his experiences at the market. Worede often uses these rapid sketches as launchpads for larger works on canvas, which prefer to push the parameters of the paint itself.
Birhane Worede (b. 1998, Ethiopia) lives and works in Addis Ababa. Worede graduated from the Alle School of Fine Art and Design, Addis Ababa University in 2021. Worede has previously shown with Urevbu Contemporary, Memphis, TN and as part of ‘One One’ at Moa Anbessa, Ethiopia.
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