Magic scroll paintings based on weaver’s tools and strips of parchment framed on pieces of wood is artist Zerihun Yetmgeta’s established trademark. His work combines modern art interwoven with traditional motifs that creates a cosmopolitan work of art. Owing to Yetmgeta’s extraordinary choice of mixed media with modern painting trends, he has been recognized in numerous art books, national megazines, newspapers and publications.

Born 1941, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Yetmgeta attended boarding school where he acquired the nickname “scientist” because he enjoyed working with his hands. He attended the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design in Addis Ababa and has taught at the school since 1978. When he opened his first one-man show to the public it consisted of a mixture of canvas, skin and wood, and it was such a success that half of his art works were sold at the exhibition itself.

To date, Yetmgeta has received international success and is recognized as a contemporary creative genius. He has received awards to include 1st Prize, All Ethiopian School, Addis Ababa, 1958 Represented Ethiopia in the 4th Havana Biennial in 1991, themed The Challenge of Colonization Awarded the prestigious Prix de la Biennale at Dak’ Art 1992, and 2nd prize at the Kenyan Art Panorama, French Cultural Center, Nairobi, 1994.

Yetmgeta’s work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally and he has works in a number of European and American museum collections, as well as in many private collections.