Tesfaye Urgessa

Tesfaye Geleta Urgessa (born 1983; ) is an Ethiopian-born painter. He is from Addis Ababa, and has been based in Germany since 2009. He studied under Mezgebu Tessema, Tadesse Mesfin, and Bisrat Shibabaw in Ethiopia.

Urgessa was taught by professors who had studied art in Russia in the 1970s and 1980s, when the dominant art movement was socialist realism. Their focus was on the study of anatomy, which influenced Urgessa’s style.

Themes Tesfaye Urgessa’s images have themes of racism, class, police brutality, injustice in politics and power.

Exhibitions Urgessa exhibited in "Oltre/Beyond" at The Uffizi Gallerie in Florence in 2018, and again in 2021. The Uffizi also hosts his work in its permanent collection, and "Von Denen Die Auszogen" at State Galerie Villa Streccius, in Landau Germany in 2019.

Exhibitions 2015, Body and Soul, Sympra GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany 2015, Free Fall, Galerie Evelyn Drewes, Hamburg, Germany 2015, Untitled, Galerie K, Köln, Germany 2016, Ethiopia Today - Begegnung mit Äthiopien, Kunstation Kleinassen, Hofbieber-Kleinassen 2016, Fremdkörper, Schacher – Raum für Kunst, Stuttgart, Germany 2017, Auszeit, Galerieverein Wendlingen, Wendlingen, Germany 2017, Free Fall, Galerie Evelyn Drewes, Hamburg, Germany 2018, No Country for Young Men, Galerieverein Leonberg, Leonberg, Germany 2018, Oltre/Beyond, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy 2019, Atemzug, Galerie Tobias Schrade, Ulm, Germany 2019, Ich Halte Dich Festhalten, Schacher – Raum für Kunst, Stuttgart, Germany 2019, No Country for Young Men, Addis Fine Art, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2019, Von Denen Die Auszogen, State Galerie Villa, Streccius, Landau, Germany 2025, Roots of Resilience, Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, UK

Awards 2014, Akademiepreis der Kunstakademie Stuttgart, Germany 2010, Camillo-Michele-Gloria-Preis, GasVersorgung Süddeutschland, Stuttgart, Germany