God Particle 36.ft w X 6 ft.

This artwork is one of my last pieces inspired by the God Particle theory that was discovered July 2012. This art work revealed to me the excitement of life of discovering the beauty of the Universe and therefore of our every day life.This piece is composed by 36 single panels on the wood, Four Elements: Ea...rth, Water, Air, Fire ,each one measures 2ft. x 2ft. a total of 36.ft X 6 ft. h. This piece can also be separated in four different sections each of 6ft x 6ft

God Particle: Scientists from the atom smasher in Switzerland say to have discovered a subatomic particle, named “God particle” because it is believe to have originated during the Big Bang and helped shape the subatomic particles that make up all matter in the universe,

However the artist should have a message to convey, a message revealed to him by his inner voice that also accounts for the beauty of his work. Only that is beautiful.

The kiss. This is one of my recent works and one of my favorite. Happynew year.

Vandalism: A Painting Reborn

After Caravaggio, by Eyob Mergia, © 2012

I received a phone call several weeks ago with the news that one my pieces, which had been displayed in a church, had been vandalized. Someone had slashed it with a knife, and the damage was irreparable. I was surprised and saddened to hear that someone would do that. Anyone would feel the same upon hearing that a piece of his or her work had been destroyed in that way. An artist works to inspire his audience, and to move them to create and work in their own way. Doesn't every artist hope and expect that his or her artwork will inspire people to create and work in a positive way, and not to destroy?

One of the reasons I did this painting in the first place was that several years ago I studied the use of dark tones in painting. It was very important to me to paint darker figures in darker compositions, and to learn and develop the techniques used by the Renaissance painters. I often include elements of three excellent painters: Caravaggio, Henry Tanner, and Peter Paul Rubens. Even as a child I loved the works of those painters. In most of their work they use radical naturalist and realist styles which combine a close physical observation with dynamic, even theatrical, approach to chiaroscuro, which is the art term for the dramatic use of light and shadow. A close study of realistic painting is a very good foundation for abstract painting.

So in the end, I have repainted the painting that was destroyed.  The church wanted to have me paint it again, and I was happy to oblige.

     

Click to enlarge

Solo Exhibition: Inner Voice

This solo exhibition, Inner Voice, will open simultaneously in two different galleries. It is the fruit of a lot of work over the last few months, and deals with some of my experiences in Las Vegas.

A recent article about the exhibition

Cazino Lounge and Gallery opening

The Cazino Lounge and Gallery was proud to present Aster Aweke this past week. Her voice, always amazing, has a power and presence that never fails to hold an audience spellbound. Her personality offstage is just as impressive as it is when she is performing.

I enjoyed comparing notes with her on the creative process. She says that her inspiration in musical creation comes in a "flash," which matches my experience in the visual arts.

I'm looking forward to collaborating with her in Ethiopia in the future.

   

Genesis

This large charcoal drawing (29 by 8.5 ft) was originally conceived as part of  my research and preparation for a  mosaic and tile project on spiritual art, but became one of my most important pieces.  The size and scope of this pieces can really only be fully appreciated in an exhibit setting, so I have tried to convey some of that in the accompanying photographs.

Genesis is a study of Light and Darkness, of the mystery of Creation, of Imagination and From, and the Human Soul.

-- Click to enlarge the images.--

    

In the Beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the word was God! John 1:1

The exhibit where these photographs were taken was featured in these two publications:

Eyob Mergia: An Ethiopian artist rising in America

Local Painter Showcases Ethiopian Culture and Artwork

The P3 Exhibition, Washington Pavilion

The Spirit of the Dakotas

Several elements  were in my mind as I worked on this piece. I wanted to include: future, diversity, innovation, evolution, vision, imagination and creativity. These elements are the fundamentals of humanity and culture which help shape mankind’s destiny.

This exhibition is now the second collaboration between Ron Robinson and me. It has been a really good experience, and I’m looking forward to working with him on similar projects in the future. You can read more of Ron's work here.  Hopefully, that would be an art that idealistically expresses the spirit of the Dakotas - an art that represents everyone.

Below is a beautiful poem Ron Robinson wrote as part of our collaboration to express the idea in both words and painting.

Dakota Moment
We are met at these crossroads of time,
ascended from the stairs of the double spiral
or descended from the galaxy of stars,
onto these plains where once great herds of bison
fled the arrows of He-Whose-Horse-Is-Crazy,
where mountains bear the likeness of our faces.

Who were they, so proud they carved their faces
into stone, as though in this to conquer time?
To seek permanence in this endless flux is crazy,
after all; stone crumbles, and words spiral
like leaves or birds in autumn winds, as bison
stir in fear of wolves that howl the stars.

This world is not ours, we who from the stars
were fashioned, whose sins are written in our faces,
whose existence is as fragile as the bison
we once brought near extinction, who in time
will be extinct, whose fortunes too will spiral
downward, and whose greed will drive us crazy.

What are we met to do in this crazy
world but seek to emulate our stars
whose talents bring them fame, who spiral
to obscurity, and whose faces
haunt us, so much like our own in time,
as though to warn us of our fate: like bison

to flourish for a little while, like bison
to be brought low? Is it truly crazy
to think there must be something else, that time
was given us to use, to regain the stars,
to reclaim our righteousness, to redeem our faces,
before we face the greater, final spiral?

But what can atone, what reverse the spiral?
Our fathers have transgressed against the bison,
against the earth, have set their very faces
one against the other, stolen Crazy
Horse, their heroes and their foes, their stars,
as mere attractions, have sold their own brief time.

Now give us kinder faces to climb the double spiral
up the steps of time, let flourish men and bison.
Though now it may seem crazy, we meet next in the stars.

–Ronald Robinson

Article in the Argus Leader

[caption id="attachment_287" align="alignleft" width="242" caption="Page One of the Argus Leader article"][/caption]

This weekend the Argus Leader published an article about some of my recent work, focusing particularly on the Seven Days of Creation that I wrote about several posts ago.  Click on the pictures to read the full article.

[caption id="attachment_287" align="alignright" width="132" caption="Page Two"][/caption]

For more photos and news, go to my website.

Genesis

I have been working on this 29 by 8.5 ft drawing this spring as part of  my research and preparation for a  mosaic and tile project on spiritual art.

This drawing entitled Genesis intends to show Light/Darkness, Word, the Universe, Creation, Civilization, Religion and Spirituality, Birth, Imagination, Form, the Mystery of other Dimensions, and the Human Soul.

In the Beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the word was God! John 1:1

-- Click to enlarge the images.--

Eyob Mergia: An Ethiopian artist rising in America

Local Painter Showcases Ethiopian Culture and Artwork

Spring 2011 Issue of SD Artwork

Sacred Lotus

                         

                                

 

             The Sacred Lotus represents the birth of a child. I was inspired to paint a painting about this concept which is similar to the one of the Lotus flower which is born in the water just as a baby in the mother's womb. Ideally, the flower reminds me a lot of Baptism because it is born from the water and grows out.

             The Lotus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera) has had a significant impact on many ancient cultures such as Egypt and is currently the country flower of India and Vietnam. It is referred as being holy and sacred in the Hindu religion and is mentioned in many Hindi stories. In fact, there has even been an architectural temple that was built in inspiration of the Lotus.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Temple)         

            Nonetheless, this painting has two circles and many pelicans. One circle represents the season that that is ending and the other represents the spring season that is to be born. Thus, it resembles the Lotus. The pelicans represent the sense of natural bonding in the kingdom of creation. As an artist, the ideas that are created each second are ones that I have to capture and integrate it into my art with skills that have been aquired with past experiences as this with an interval of rest to do it again.

 

(My new website is www.eyobart.com)

Mural Art - Part I

On Mayday, around eight o’ clock, I found an email that told me we needed to change the theme on our mural project from Jazz to Christian. The Christian theme also was to have an emphasis on the bible verse: Psalms 150:3-5 "Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."

Luckily, we were ending our research about the Jazz concept in color motive and form instead of painting it. The reason why we needed to change the theme is because the SFC requested it so that the mural can be hung on the walls of the entryway. Thus, it would better suit the school’s Christian environment. I love the idea for the Christian theme but due to large amount of time that was given to us for the jazz theme, I prefer that better. Time is crucial in art because with that you are able to research your topic and incorporate it in a beautiful way.
For a long time, the students started their paintings with a white background, glue, and paint. They used a collage system that started from black and altered to white. This gave them a sense of tonal gradation which gives them a better understanding in color. This time, I had the students start from the middle of the light brown and dark brown tonal gradations I had made. For example, the middle tonal gradation of black and white is gray. This gave them an opportunity to learn how to work with different tonal gradations of one color. In fact, this can give a project a monochromatic feel but still hold color as an advantage.
What surprised me with the students visit today was the fact that all of the students came with an excitement and passion. We had the chance to work with mature, rich colors that represent Christian art but also themselves. This differs from all the other work the students have done because it gives them a chance to take a common theme and symbolize that with their individual creativity. It was great as well as wonderful because half of the mural is so far successful.

“This technique of art was created to be the basis and root of a new way of art. Everything else can only branch off.”

Guess who is talking about this blog . . .

Got it? It is Argus Leader. In its article entitled 'An Artist's Touch', the newspaper writes about Sioux Falls Christian Schools students art project with me.

You may check it out here.

Students are also interviewed about the project - it is quite a interesting read!

Self-Measurement, Self-Understanding, and Realism

This week I had the students do still life. I wanted them to lower their zealousness and really pay attention to negative and positive spaces in their art. My goal was not to have them create but project what they see into their canvas. This is associated to hand and eye coordination. Sometimes it’s very good to work with realism because that is what a good artist is measured by. In order to do abstract you have to start with a strong foundation of realism. The reason why we did not have realism in the groups was because of the scarcity in time. Nevertheless, I wanted the students to at least undergo this concept.

I have the utmost appreciation for this group. The fact that they all admitted to needing help was a good step for them because they are then able open up themselves as a student. I also had a good appreciation for the group because they seemed like they were always prepared to learn and do what ever it takes to improve or grow. Everyone knows that when you start to see things that could improve and you go about achieving that, you get steps closer to a better understanding which leads to perfection. This concept is not necessarily for art only, but life in general. Nevertheless, I have a great appreciation for all the groups because they went above and beyond my expectations for them within this short amount of time. I have seen many diverse techniques, colors, forms, freedom, knowledge, feelings, joys, ideas, concepts, passions, and powers in this project. From my perspective, all these elements combined gives growth and brings their art into different and innovative levels.

When I was watching them leave it hit me hard that I probably was not going to have opportunities to work with them again after May 2nd. I had shared with them a part of my self that was personal as well as the measure of love I have for art. It was humorous because this made me feel like they were walking out of the door with my heart on their backs in place of a backpack. This gave me an idea for my next painting though.

Sioux Falls Christian School project

 

For quite a while, I was involved in a project in teaching students from the Sioux Falls Christian School. The main themes of the project were Jazz Art, Mural Art,Titian Art and art from children’s perspective. Eighteen students from the school were attending a class in my studio in Piper’s Art Decor and customs Framing and took classes in the elements of Jazz art, the techniques , styles and the challenges involved. They worked with color, form and ideas to create their own pieces of Jazz art. As the saying goes, challenging art challenges not only the viewer but its maker. Art that falls short often does not because the artist failed to meet the challenge, but because there was never a challenge there in the first place.Hard work equals amazing artwork. This is the reason we are so confident in this project. Hopefully, this project will capture the attention of all its viewers and relate to them on a personal level, some way or another.

I believe that this show will not benefit only the students but potentially the whole city of Sioux Falls. It is a good experience for the students because it teaches them the vitality in viewing things in different perspectives. Also, it gives them a musical sense for jazz which then can be formed into ideas that can be incorporated into art. For the city of Sioux Falls, It gives an awareness of jazz and the change that it has taken in the last years, even in art. The reason why this conceptual art is different from all the others is because there had been much research done by more than one person and many ideas brought forth. This means that the art has more of a widespread feel for the theme and it is able to give more of a sense of optimism and hope for all the viewers. Art is measured in the power of the creativity and even the creator. This power though, is determined by the viewer itself. When there is more than one creator working on the same concept, it gives the viewer infinite views and perspectives which has the potential to open up their imaginations into different dimensions of art.

I believe that it will be good for the art community in Sioux Falls to see this because they will then have the opportunity to view a new kind of art and idea grow from within their own community. For the students, we are taking them into new levels of art in their own individual styles and showing them how to find themselves in art. This not only benefits them in art, but in life. It shows them the importance of having confidence when approaching new ideas and new concepts which is essential to any person’s life.

Show will be :

Sioux Falls Christian High School

May 27- June 1, 2007 , Sioux Falls, SD

 

Abstract Scene

This time, I have been working with a second group of students helping them manifest their own ideas into their art. At first, some of the students had a difficult time choosing and grasping their ideas in such a short amount of time. My objective in this is to prepare and train the students to create ideas and make decisions immediately. This gives them the strength to take what they have in their minds at that time and find a way to apply it in their art. At the end they created beautiful pieces and developed themselves into a new level of art.

The main challenge they have now is forming ideas and developing quick techniques.This can come with more experience and more dedication. It also pays to read books about periods of art and artist biographies - to learn from their experience.There are a lot of resources out there to refer to on abstract elements in art. But one of my favorites is Art and the Creative Consciousness by Graham Collier.

Also some of the artists you may refer to for inspiration ( these people have always inspired me) are Jackson Pollock, Joan Miro, Paul Klee, Arshile Gorky, William DeKooning, Jean Dubuffet, Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian.

 

I appreciate the students very much. They have showed tremendous effort to learn and it paid well.

 

Swing

This painting was inspired by a friend of mine from the country side. Her family was moving to a big city and wanted a painting that reminded them of their home. We went to the country side to see how I could capture these memories.
I did one painting about them and then another one about her. She grew up in the country side. It was a stunning time I had with her.
The name "Swing" comes from the swinging she was doing when she was telling me of her country childhood memories. As I was listening to her I was looking at her and seeing her as a butterfly, bird, dandelion and more generally an important component in this universe.
A challenging part of this painting was creating the motion-like-curve of the swing as I was combining the 3 dimensional ideas into one. I took it!
One of the funniest things was, when I was doing this painting I observed not the painting itself but my color palette. I had an unusual amount of fun mixing the colors. In Edvard Munch's painting "Scream" . He made the echo of the women's scream have a unique relationship with her background which is defined by sound and figure. For some reason I was thinking about him and how it relates to my painting. It made me chuckle because in my painting there was a similar relationship like that which is defined by Bird and Butterfly.
This painting was done by the end of 2005 and in a collection in Mitchell.

Two necks of music - portrait ?

I had to do a portrait of two sisters once. I happen not to want to simply make a direct portrait but instead I wanted to do something creative. The impression I had of the two sisters was that one of them seemed to me to have a 'Guitar-personality' while the other one had a 'Violin-personality' ( I mean in the context of music).

I used Abstract Impressionism technique for the painting which  according to wikipedia is :

a type of Abstract painting where brushstrokes exhibit control over emotion and focus on inner energy and contemplation, creating a lyrical and intellectual quality to the painting.

But anyway, let me tell you a bit about this painting. The blue face and hair is meant to create universe and the circle is meant to create unity. The strings, the birds and the floating papers are meant to represent the gradational tone of musique that is meant to be felt. The circular people close to the box of the guitare are meant to scream - as portrayed by the circular shape of their open-mouth. Note that the shape of the hole of the guitare is similar to that of the head of the people - that is where the sound of the musique comes out and that same form is meant to shape the people to give out sound in harmony with the guitar and the violin.

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit - 'Seasons'

"As an artist I created this painting to give a sense of healing to the patients in the Avera McKennan hospitals. The three groups of seven birds refer to seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are: love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, humility and self-control. The cross within the circle represents the old and new testaments of the Holy Bible. In the cross there are four symbols of the four seasons. Thus concluding that the Holy Spirit is always present regardless the time, situation or problems of a year. The olive branches found in the mouths of the birds represent peace and eternal life. This is from the story of Noah's Ark found in the book of Genesis. Also in my painting there are stars, which symbolizes the Christian heaven. I am thankful and honored to create a painting as such in hopes to create a sense of diversity and healing within the Sioux Falls community."

This was an article posted on the Avera Behavioural  Health Center in Sioux Falls after the completion of a project I did with the hospital . This painting has also been printed on t-shirts and Mugs.

Exodus painting inauguration in St. Meinrad

Exodus - an oil on canvas religious painting has been ceremonially inaugurated in  Saint Meinard School of Theology in Indiana on Friday, October the 13th, 2006. Exodus is a painting of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea on their way to Ca na’an as written in the Old Testament.

photo : St. Mainard - inauguration of Exodus with Reverend Damian, Eyob , Mr. Cornell , Mrs. Hodde and others.

Exodus

Exodus - an oil on canvas religious painting has been ceremonially inaugurated in the church of Saint Meinard in Indiana last Friday, october the 13th, 2006. Exodus is a painting of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea on their way to Ca na'an as written in the Old Testament.

Eyob used his unique brush stroke and composition skills he acquired from his exposure to traditional ethiopian art. This painting is part of the series of paintings for the Ark of the Covenant project in 2005. In this project, Eyob will be blending traditional ethiopian art with modern art. Many researchers have studied and written about the mystery and story of the Ark of the Covenant and Eyob will be trying to discover it with art - to discover the invisible.

Graham Hancock has written a best selling book- The Sign and the Seal on the mystery of the Ark of the Covenant and its history in the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Other paintings of the Ark of the Covenant series can be seen in religious paintings and religious drawings.