X Privacy 2 ,2011
Provenance : Acquired from Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London in 2014.
Saatchi Collection.
Exhibited
London, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Trade Roots, 2014
London, Saatchi Gallery, Pangaea II: New Art from Africa and Latin America, 2015
Literature
Saatchi Gallery, Pangaea II: New Art from Africa and Latin America, 2015, p.14
Dawit Abebe typically depicts men facing away from the viewer's gaze, creating a sense of being a voyeur. Their muscular bodies are outlined with pencil and filled in with rough chunks of chalk. The anxious grip on the tv reveals a worry for mass media and technology. It dominates the work in the same way technology dominates everyday life. In this series Dawit Abebe comments on the uncertainty that such transformation is bringing to life in Ethiopia and the rapidly developing city of Addis Ababa. In the present lot, tower blocks are sprouting out of the shadow. Almost a reflection of George Orwell's dystopian
Nineteen Eighty Four novel.
