Eyob Arts

Harmony and Balance Band, originally uploaded by eyobart.

This is the band at my show.

Harmony and Balance is an upcoming show that was prepared by, a good friend, Edward Thomson and I. I have a lot of appreciation for Edward and collect his art pieces. We have been arranging this for the last three months and are anticipating great results.

Background

As an artist, my inspirations come from many sources that include music, nature, books, and religion. They are inspirations that have a positive outlook and a potential to form a change in the art culture and bring an awareness of the mystery of sense. My medium is often a mixed media of oil paint, drawing, and watercolor. I enjoy playing with the composition and the colors of my pieces. I believe the composition is the basis of the spiritual essence and idea within them.

Harmony

To me, the goal of this show is to create a sense of awareness with beauty among the public. As an artist, my goal is to create imaginative elements that viewers have never seen or thought to see before. My paintings convey a sense of joy, healing, music and the power of creativity. All of these concepts have the potential to bring a positive outlook or perspective to the viewers by using creative tools to break some of the laws or art.
My pieces have been inspired by mostly two famous painters: Caravaggio and Henry Tanner. In most of their work they use radical naturalist and realist styles which combine a close physical observation with dynamic, even theatrical, approach to chiaroscuro, which is the art term for the use of light and shadow. Thus, it is much easier to focus on accurate depictions of subjects. Out of the many artists I have seen, these two are the ones that have clearly displayed a strong ability for composition and drawing. For many years, I have grown up painting with inspirations as these that seem to always serve as the foundation of the many styles of art I have grown in.
Since the last eleven years, I have constantly researched many different periods of art inside and outside this country by reading, traveling, sketching and painting. By teaching myself these concepts I have developed an artistic form of language and signature within my pieces that creates a sense of accountability for me as a painter. As an artist, my goal will always remain to bring a different, though knowledgeable, perspective on the roots of traditional and cultural art that is able to capture the essence of nature.

Concept

At this time, art has come into in accordance with the laws of the inner force. The spiritual subject lives, it has its own powers and actively modifies the spiritual atmosphere. But painting is not a pointless activity but a power that helps to refine the soul. The soul is like a daily bread, but how ever the artist should have a message to convey. A message revolves to him by his inner voice which also accounts for the beauty of his work for only that is beautiful.
The greatest external diversity (external form) becomes the greatest internal identity. Thus, realism is equal to abstraction, and abstraction to realism. True art can be achieved by both methods.
The fact that a painting can be represented as a secret mathematical form or number but there are numbers of all kind and why should we narrow the range of the artistic expression?

Harmony and Balance
Koch Hazard Gallery
2nd floor window

Nov. 23, 7:30 PM along with the Parade of Lights
Exhibition: Monday-Friday 8-5pm through Jan.5th 2008

The Cello Dream, originally uploaded by eyobart.

Every morning when I wake up I feed human bread to the ducks outside my porch. When I don’t wake up and feed them they tend to scream at my window and disturb me very much. Amusingly, they give me inspiration. Their voices may sound raw and dreadful to many but remind me of a saxophone and the sound you get when you are manually ripping a piece of cloth. At the same time, other birds flee to this scene and sometimes rabbits and squirrels come. It gives me a child-like experience filled with simple and common fun that some take for granted.
The Cello Dream was basically inspired by these bird encounters at my window. I took the song-like voices of the birds and depicted them as floating people under the moon. The songs of the birds merge with the cello player and his dreams of the full moon.
I do many paintings like this because it helps my mind enter into a state of refreshment after a long and motivational art piece or set.

More musical paintings at…eyobart.com

 Born of Water and of the Spirit, originally updated by Eyob

                 After a loooooooooong trip to Ethiopia the last few months, traveling an adventurous and exciting trip across that great historical country, I am now back in town! The last few weeks, I have kept myself busy with the painting for the new Avera McKenna Hospice. I have actually used the knowledge gained from my trip in this work of art. Before I made my visit to Ethiopian churches, a lot of my inspiration was from mostly my imagination and sacred art. After my visit, some of my imaginative elements were confirmed and new ideas were raised. My art is delightfully taking a new turn towards a modernized dimension of Ethiopian art. By following and concentrating on the roots of Ethiopian art I believe my viewers will see a hidden and sacred language that cannot be spoken but seen in my art. Here is a brief description of the paintings.

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 3:5

Description:

                   This painting is meant to represent baptism so as to symbolize Hope, the feeling of Healing and Salvation. It is meant to give a sense of comfort, sense of healing, sense of re-birth. Extending from the past through the present to the future, it is meant to guide the minds of people to explore the spiritual world in an artistic language and form both in the form of Water and Spirit as in the words of Jesus. Artistically, the spiritual elements representing different concepts radiating towards one universal theme, were depicted using dynamic composition. The blue painting is “born of water” and the red is “born of the spirit”. All in all, this painting is generally aiming to give cultural awareness from the perspective of art.

Symbols:

                    Several elements are included in the two pentaplet canvasses. The Child symbolizes a sense of re-birth and represents baptism as in The New Testament; The Dove represents Spirit, The Ten Commandment represents the past (taking us back to the Old Testament) and the influence of which transcends to the present; the Umbrellas symbolize protection from the Sun. The ancient Cross icons symbolize the sacrifice Jesus Christ paid on the Cross for the salvation of humanity. All the above elements are chosen and included to give a sense of healing, hope and salvation for the needy!

This show was a display of all the work done by the students. The show made for a nice evening for all of us.  Surprisingly, their was reported more than 300 people that came to the opening.

Click HERE for more information.

This picture was taken at the entryway of the high school with all of us together.

Click HERE for more information.

Alpha Omega, originally uploaded by eyobart.

SFC Collaboration
Alpha Omega
Mixed Collage

Alpha Omega (Gr. “το ‘Αλφα και το Ω), translated into Greek, means A to Z. Numerous people relate this to “the first and the last” or “the beginning and the end.” These few but powerful words are known to be appellation of God in the Bible book of Revelations. We gave this title to the project because we view it as the birth of a new concept. We were the first to discover and create this kind of concept in hopes that we were able to convey the mood and ideas of this theme. However, what ultimately unifies this project it is the representation of the life and times of Jesus Christ in our painting with modern and conceptual art.
Tomorrow is actually going to be the day when the Mural is going to be hanging on the walls of SFC. The theme of the Mural is based on a Christian Art. 18 Students each created a piece by using musical notes, biblical verses to create a unified collage icon. They also have their individual designs and styles incorporated into their art. All the pieces are then arranged together in a form of a large cross in a triptych format.

The Mural will be hung May 16th at SFC High School entrance

The show for their remaining art pieces the students created will be displayed in my studio on May 24th beginning at 5:30 P.M

 Click here for the KSFY TV News Station Article

The color of sound art, originally uploaded by eyobart.

The Color of Sound: Music Inspires Art

An interactive concert featuring local visual artists and musicians.

Four talented Sioux FAlls artists, Scott L. Ehrisman, Hope Happeny, Eyob Mergia and Jamie Scarbrough, will create several paintings on canvas while listening to the region’s top Jazz and Blues Bands– Dakota Jazz Collective and Urban Blues.

This film will be very special for all of us!