Selome Muleta (b. 1992) is one of the most exciting young female artists to emerge from the Ethiopian visual arts scene in recent years. Her inaugural European solo show opens on March 11th, 2022 at Addis Fine Art gallery in London. (Photo: Courtesy of the artist via Addis Fine Art)
Press Release
Addis Fine Art London
Addis Fine Art, London is pleased to present Selome Muleta’s debut European solo show, Collapsing Space. This exhibition of the artist’s latest works explores womanhood through the playful merging of portraiture and still life, and examines the relationship between the internal self and the external world.
In Collapsing Space, Selome continues her exploration of female figures captured in states of inner reflection in the midst of vibrant environments. With her chosen medium of acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, Selome’s latest body of work interrogates and celebrates the rich interior worlds of her subjects, the stillness of their external forms reverberating against the vivid patterns and blossoming plants that crawl through their backdrops.
In a similar vein to the portraits of Jennifer Packer, Selome employs translucent washes of hue and busy patterns to create a sense of contemplative unity between her subjects and their respective environments. At times, the faces of her characters are obscured or cropped, and the viewer is invited instead to focus on objects that surround them. A drooping plant, a dozing feline companion, a distant crooked framed portrait – these forms stand as both symbolic and literal entry points to the interior self.
(Courtesy of the artist via Addis Fine Art)
Selome Muleta, Collapsing Space VII, 2021. Courtesy of the artist)
Much like the bottles and bowls of Morandi and Hockney’s plant-laden vases, the flattened characters and objects born from Selome’s brush seem to hum serenely with the energy of their very existence.
Biography
Selome Muleta (b. 1992) is one of the most exciting young female artists to emerge from the Ethiopian visual arts scene in recent years. Now based in Addis Ababa, Muleta studied art formally at the Abyssinia Fine Art School (2012) and Entoto Polytechnic College (2013-2014). She has had solo exhibitions at Guramayne Art Center, Fendika Art Gallery, Alliance Ethio-Francaise (2019) and most recently, Tsedal at Addis Fine Art, Addis Ababa (2020), she has also participated in group shows including From Modern to Contemporary, CFHILL gallery, Stockholm, Sweden (2020).
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If You Go:
COLLAPSING SPACE | SELOME MULETA
Addis Fine Art, London
11 March – 16 April 2022 (Private View: 10 March from 5-8PM)
More info at www.addisfineart.com
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