Eyayu Genet: The economist who abandoned his profession for labour of the love— art

Eyayu Genet: The economist who abandoned his profession for labour of the love— art

BY LEULSEGED WORKU

Eyayu Genet is a young artist and a teacher. He is B.A holder in Economics from Bahirdar University. Through this specialization of his he did manage to win bread. However, the life he led couldn't satisfy his art starved soul. For that reason he had to abandon all the fortune he used to derive from his field of specialization, economics.

Lately an art exhibition was staged at the National Museum on which Eyeyu Genet had put on show not less than 70 works. This reporter had a chance to spend half an hour with him.

Eyayu believes that one has to pay all scarifies to satisfy one's needs. Art presupposes passion and commitment, says Eyayu. “When I came to Addis Abba to pursue my dream, I had only 300 hundred Birr. For that reason, it were not few who considered me insane. They even thought that I will soon run out of income, for I have undermined what my toil in the academic circle had already put in my hand.”

“When I came to Addis, I had a chance to work in a certain NGO. But, I decided to focus on my calling, the passion that emanates from my soul— art. Working as an economist surely promises a good salary. But, it can't offer the self contentment I derive from art.”

Eyayu also said that, when he decided to come to Addis, he had a vision of making Bahir Dar an alternative art corner.

According to him,nowadays it has become normal to find galleries and school of fine arts in Addis Ababa. But, it is hard to find such amenities of modern life in other parts of the country. It is not uncommon to see most Hotels of Adids decorated with paintings. And they get frequently visited by tourists and hotel users. However, when it comes to other towns there is no such privilege. Bahir Dar's case is no different than this. Despite the fact that Bahir Dar is the capital city of the Amhara State, there seems to be no apatite for art. For this reason I had a great desire to make Bahirdar one of the alternative art centers.

Making Bahir Dar as an alternative art center was not an easy task, says Eyayu. For that reason he was compelled to convince some hotel owners and managers to hang some of his works on the hotel's walls. For them, any painting—especially, which is far from a realistic one— is something confusing and inappropriate. For that reason he was forced to hang his paintings in some hotels without advance payment and compelled to earn his living by drawing portraits of some wealthy and well known individuals.

As to Eyayu, later on those hotel managers and owners realized how precious his paintings were after they saw how tourists got impressed by his paintings. “Most hotel owners assume it is the building which has a great value for tourists than the paintings. As opposed to this, most tourists get mesmerized and inspired by the paintings hanged on the hotel's walls. This realization has coerced them to invite me and hang more and more paintings.”

The nature of Eyayu`s paintings:

On the exhibition Eyayu had staged not less than 70 paintings that featured the cultural values of Ethiopia from ancient to modern times. Eyayu had also staged paintings that reflect the different weather conditions the country accommodates during its “13” months.

His paintings run the gamut from the hottest climate of Ertale to the coldest weather of Ras Dashen. From the roof top of a mountain to a depression. What is more, Eyayu`s brush, via his nimble hands , have captured Ethiopian heros who fought tooth and nail and sacrificed their precious blood to Ethiopia.

For Eyayu, we Ethiopians are lucky enough to decipher different color pigments. Those 13 months afford us a better opportunity to see various natural color compositions For instance, if one observes Adey Ababa ( Daisy,a type of flower) one will realize how nature paints flowers through her superb hands.

The availability of different topography in the country creates ample opportunity for inspiration- and- theme- scouting visual artists . “If one has a chance to go to the southern part of the country, he will understand what greenery means. Likewise,unique spots, like Ertale, afford a good model to draw something unique.”

For Eyayu, art must be deep probing and a paintings must come up with a new idea. “If a certain poet does not come up with a new idea what is the value of art then?” The same is true with a visual artist. He must employ different techniques to show something new and something deep.

Eyayu`s paintings are also the reflection of Ethiopian economic progress through time. Unlike most paintings featuring the existing economic change Eyayu`s paintings have also included the ancient and medieval Ethiopian civilization.

Answering why he prefers to contrast the current and the past civilization, Eyayu said that “Civilization of the past are the basis for the current civilization. The past cultural values of Ethiopia have played a significant role for the current one.”

According to Eyayu, culture is the identity of a given society. Cognizant of this fact we have to preserve it. He also said that, “No matter how civilized we are on the existing standards, we have to value our culture and our identity!”