Black Sun

Gebrekristos Desta (1932-1981) was a prolific poet and a profound artist educated in Germany, Cologne. He is a main figure in Ethiopian modernism whose perspectives on modernism question and challenge what is perceived to be Ethiopian path to modernity. Desta challenged the notion that a country needs to advance in art as it does in science or technology. It was true that his inclination to semi-figurative, abstract and abstract expressionist imagery betray exposure to the German art of his student youth [FIG 25]. Desta was using the expressionist lens to communicate the pain of human condition and the complexity of modern man. His works were mostly interpretations of his surroundings and are deeply psychological in nature. Desta was an important figure in the Ethiopian art scene and among the students of the art school until his exile at the time of the advent of the socialist ideology in Ethiopia. Yet, his legacy and influence on Ethiopian/African art modernism remains considerable.

His modernist works reflected far more critically on the various societal issues of the country. As seen in this painting, Gebrekristos Desta and Eshetu Tiruneh were among the artists who exposed the outrageous famine of 1975.