Nigatu Solomon’s Bold Return to the Gallery
After a four-year absence from the exhibition scene—years spent painting quietly for churches—Ethiopian artist Nigatu Solomon has returned with Beneath a Warm Shade, a textured, emotionally resonant solo show now on view at the Fendika Cultural Center inside Addis Ababa’s Hayat Regency Hotel.
The collection is a rich blend of media and meaning, mixing torn fabric with traditional paint to produce works that are as tactile as they are expressive. It is, in every sense, a portrait of an artist working between devotion and experimentation—between spiritual commissions and deeply personal expressions.
Nigatu, who works full-time at Ethiopian Airlines, paints in the in-between: late nights, early mornings, long weekends. His studio practice is humble, but the results are anything but.
“I’m not great at conversations with strangers,” he said quietly, standing beside one of his canvases at the opening on June 4, “but I can tell you I find real joy in painting.” His tone matched the warmth and sincerity radiating from the artworks behind him.
Beneath a Warm Shade is a study in layers—of material, of memory, of meaning. Torn scraps of fabric are arranged into intricate compositions, laid over brushstrokes that pulse with raw feeling. Scenes of bustling marketplaces, expressive faces, and abstract forms unfold across the canvases like fragments of dreams recalled through texture.
The pieces span nearly a decade, from 2015 to the present. When asked why it took so long to mount this show, Nigatu offered a soft laugh. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe I was waiting for all of them to be ready to face the world. Or maybe I was just deep into church work. But these red and blue, bold and ambitious colors—they say everything about what’s beneath the warm shade.”
One standout work reimagines the Mona Lisa—not as parody, but as homage and recontextualization. The familiar face remains, but she wears a traditional Ethiopian dress, a gentle act of cultural reclamation.
“I love all of them,” Nigatu replied when asked to name a favorite. “It’s all love. That one—Mona Lisa—I call it ‘appropriate art.’ You’re not copying, you’re showing the magnitude of a piece through your own eyes, your own heart, your own view.”
Nigatu is rare painter who bridges both sacred and contemporary spheres. As a church muralist and conceptual artist, he brings spiritual discipline to modern forms, balancing reverence with reinvention. Few artists are willing—or able—to move so fluidly between traditions.
Visitors to the exhibition responded to this blend of texture and meaning with quiet reverence. “It feels more human,” one said. “Not just something to look at, but something you can feel.”
Another noted how his use of fabric rendered figures with startling honesty. “It’s more real than a photo. You see what’s in the people—not just what’s on them.”
Indeed, the added materials lend the work a lived-in quality. The canvases feel inhabited. Faces appear not simply painted but held—preserved in layers of cloth and memory.
The title Beneath a Warm Shade is more than poetic—it’s instructive. These works ask viewers to slow down, look closely, and rediscover beauty in the overlooked. In a world of instant images, Nigatu invites art enthusiasts back to intimacy, back to craft, back to care.
More than a return to the gallery, this exhibition is a quiet testament to what can emerge when an artist works not for acclaim, but for joy.
Beneath a Warm Shade runs through June 18 at the Fendika Cultural Center, Hayat Regency Hotel, Addis Ababa.
