Palazzo Pitti hosts the first monographic exhibition in Italy of Tesfaye Urgessa

TheAndito degli Angiolini at Palazzo Pitti in Florence is hosting the first monographic exhibition in Italy of Tesfaye Urgessa (Addis Ababa, 1983), a critically and commercially acclaimed artist, until February 3, 2019.

Awide selection of works Urgessa made from 2010 to 2018 will be on display: the figures he depicts on canvas are in solitude or in compositions of tangled and mutilated bodies and are a personal projection that has no narrative or social bearing.

“Some people see victims in my figures. I see in them those who have made it. They give me comfort. A scar is not necessarily a sign of a tragedy, a boxing champion may well have a black eye or a bleeding eyebrow,” says the artist; and he adds, “If someone recognizes himself in my figures as well as I recognize myself in them, then necessarily they will recognize themselves in me.” It represents a repertoire of faces, masks, bodies, and a collection of familiar objects arranged according to arcane logic.

The director of the Uffizi Galleries, Eike Schmidt, who curated the exhibition with Chiara Toti, described Urgessa’s way of communicating as fundamentally deictic, even though the artist is well rooted in the tradition of figurative painting and his works are rich in seemingly iconic or symbolic elements.
His creative process is a spontaneous flow of the images generated by his mind; his art is “an adventurous journey full of uncertainties,” says Chiara Toti.

The exhibition itinerary divided chronologically begins with the last large canvas painted by Urgessa, entitled Trapped in the Flesh. This is followed by oils, works on paper with a roll of drawings and four monotypes that confirm the artist’s ability to use different techniques and materials.Self-Portrait, a pendant of Portrait of a Man, was donated by the artist to the Uffizi Galleries.

For info: www.uffizi.it

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 8:15 a.m. to 6:50 p.m. Closed Mondays.

Tickets: Full 10 euros, reduced 5 euros for 18-25 year olds. Free for under 18 years old.

Palazzo Pitti hosts the first monographic exhibition in Italy of Tesfaye Urgessa

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