Upcoming: Fikru:
-2007: March: solo exhibition National Museum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
-2007: Sept.: solo exhibition Galerie Daniel Besseiche, Paris, France.
-2007: Nov.: Salon d’Automne, Paris, France.

-2007: Nov.: solo exhibition Galerie Michel Cabotse, Paris, France.
-2007: Dec.: solo exhibition Galerie Annie Wable, Lille, France.
-2008: Galerie Alternance Guy Lignier, Hardelot, France.

The work of Fikru G/Mariam: Ethiopian Painter and Revolutionary Modern Artist

By: Rosângela Vieira-King, Professor at the Departement of African Studies, Howard University, Washington, DC

…His work, to that extent, is a mosaic of the lives and plight of Ethiopians in particular, and of African peoples in general. The artistic epistemology and ontological notions conveyed through his work assert that to exist in a world without a center, a barren space that is often devoid of warmth and presence such as our, humankind must unite and reach for the “self” that is visibly present in the “other.” His work is an expression of individual aspiratons and communal experiences.(…)

The environment in which we exist then becomes an indelible part of our conscious and sub-conscious experiences and is brought to life in the artist’s immensely creative and sensitive canvas. Fikru G/Mariam, like the subjects of his paintings, possesses the kindred spirit of the child, men, and women found collectively and archetypically in all of us. Consequently, this very sensitivity allows him to integrate his artistic self with the world around him. Fikru G/Mariam, undoubtedly, offers the art observer and the art lover the very essence of a revolutionary modern painter who confers a humanistic and intellectual expression to an art form that is deeply rooted in his African background and the collective experience of African Diasporic peoples throughout the world…
Copyright © 2003 by Rosângela Vieira-King, Department of African Studies, Howard University, Washington, DC.

Fikru, un art essentiel…Guy Lignier, Galerie ALTERNANCE, Hardelot-Plage, France, 2004
L’espace physique et spirituel de l’œuvre picturale de FIKRU G/ MARIAM a la marque d’un héritage très fort. Elle s’apparente à une mosaïque de la vie, à un monde où les femmes sont partagées entre le bonheur et la peine et où les hommes au masochisme exacerbé ressemblent à des dieux capricieux et narcissiques.
Ce qui interpelle le plus dans la peinture de FIKRU c’est le silence… celui dans lequel on souhaiterait visiter Lascaux. Pour la comprendre, nul besoin des « béquilles » que sont le nom de l’artiste, sa biographie, la technique employée, le contexte historique, en un mot la Culture… Nul besoin de savoir lire… le silence de sa peinture agit comme un révélateur. Si ce ne sont « les Arts Premiers », c’est peut-être « l’Art Essentiel».

Painting shown above: The Dream - 120x120 cm - Oil on canvas - 2004