Art Exhibition at LeLa Gallery 

Mickael Bethe-Sellasie an Ethiopian artist based in Paris, France was born 15 February 1951 in Dire-Dawa.  After finishing high school at Lycée Guebre-Mariam, he went to France to study physics and chemistry.  Dropping the scientific studies at the age of thirty he turned to art and devoted himself to art full time and has had the opportunity to evolve and exhibit his works around the world.

“The drawings which I’m showing at LeLa Art Gallery have as topic family and human conditions. These works on paper are in general without perspective or depth, pictures losing the third dimension to the advantage of the world without gravity. So the characters appear sometimes floating as in levitation.

I combine balance and verticality, without caring about proportions. The extended heads, the tiny hands, eyes, noses, mouths and simplified bodies create an unreal, magical world.

The eye has one strong symbolism in the Ethiopian traditional society. In my drawings, the prominence of the face and the look on the rest of the body has the effect of locating the character in a very big nearness with the spectator, giving this one the impression of being looked at.” Mickaël Bethe-Sellasie

Opening: Saturday 3 March 2012 at 3:00 PM. Exhibition runs until 18 March 2012.

Regular Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 10:00 AM—6:00 PM

Direction: From Ring Road toward Jimma, take the first right after the Armed Forces Hospital (old Airport) on China Embassy/Ghana Embassy/Swedish Clinic road. Past Ghana Embassy, approx. 200 meters, make a right and follow the LeLa sign.

Contact: lelagallery(at)gmail.com, 011-653-5506 / 011-371-2852 / 0911-300-756