In conversation with Christine Xuereb Seidu on Dawit Adnew’s Paved Road at Christine X gallery
What can you tell us about Paved Road a showcase by Ethiopian international artist Dawit Adnew?
Dawit Adnew loves to paint women because he appreciates them, the power they hold and the beauty they bring into the world. He titled the exhibition ‘Paved Road’ because he had been doing experimental art and masks during his painting career. Now it is a name given to the growing line and colors that have moved in a new direction.
How did you get to know about this artist and what led to this exhibition?
I am in touch with a lot of African artists because of my interest in African art and what’s going on in the African art world. Figurative art has always been of great interest to me and even more so when culture comes into play. I came across Dawit’s work when a common social media friend of ours posted pictures of a group exhibition held at Addis Ababa. I took a particular interest to his work and enquired about how I can get to see some works of his for sale. He said his works are up at the art centre where his exhibition was and I answered that I wasn’t in Addis Ababa and I couldn’t find any link to where I could by his work. Within minutes he sent me images with sizes and prices for each. I chose one, paid for it and had him send it here. During this process I thought that his work would do really well here in Malta. I’ve been scouting African artists for a while now but I haven’t seen works that would be easily welcomed in the Maltese art market or with the prices Maltese art collectors are used to paying so I asked him if he was interested in having an exhibition here in Malta and if he was, I’d try out the work I had purchased and see the reactions. I got great reactions and he started painting a fresh new collection for the show and here is the collection now, exactly 4 months since I first made contact with him.
How would you describe African art ?
Although Contemporary African Art has been shaped by and feeding into the globalising art markets, especially since the African diaspora also fit into ‘African art’, a lot of practises are almost exclusively locally known, with particularities typical to African aesthetics and they fail to fit into a certain type of art production that has been spreading on the international art market since at least the 1980s. An inherent attribute in most conceptions of contemporary African art is modernity as a colonial and postcolonial experience and while the Black lives Matter movement helped speed up restitution efforts of stolen African colonial-era artifacts in France and elsewhere, I am convinced it’s the same movement that helped in the demand of Contemporary African Art. It’s no wonder that contemporary African art has been steadily growing in demand with African galleries expanding their outlets to Europe and the US and African Art Fairs, especially 1:54 and the Armory Show, taking centre stage. Artists who were selling their works for a few hundred dollars are now selling in the tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Do we expect to see more African artists exhibiting at Christine X Art Gallery?
There are a few artists who I’ve been in contact with but I believe the right time will come. I don’t believe Malta is that ready for Contemporary African Art yet, unlike our other European (mainly French and English) and American counterparts who have had generations of African diaspora seeking their roots.It’s quite complex but I believe I can play my part by educating viewers into appreciating African Art firstly by introducing it.
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