The Painter-Poet Gebre Kirstos Desta (1932-1981)

The extraordinary, most revered Gebre Kirstos Desta is not well known internationally except in his home country. He is credited for introducing Modernism to Ethiopia and his works of art inspires generations. Just recently, in 2008 a Modern Art Museum was named after his name in Addis Ababa Univesity.

The Alien

I care less for half jokes
let me die, die in split-seconds
and fall into an endless sleep like a corpse
make way, broad way, for me
so I can move from end to end
with the speed of light, let me go past [galactic] worlds
and be sun, radiant sun, all-illumining, like the firmaments of God,
 let me
be a volcano, a molten lava, its ashes, flood, flood of fire
intense, a million-, nay, a billion-fold
Make way, make me a broad way
let me move in darkness, in black, pitch-black darkness, where eye sees nothing, to still regions where
time is motionless, to airless, endless empty caverns
let me flutter and survey it all … for me the star is a plaything
A piece of earth, I write about earth, on black paper, on parchment of sky
as I glide recharging with celestial spark
I move and move and ransack
 the heavens, storm bolted gates
Till non-being comes into being, silence woken
With huge strides I move
From earth to moon to star, from world to world
I move and move and create
I make the sun my habitat,
Let me burn a million- , aye, a billion-fold than Seol, and a million more than flames of Gehanam
make way, make a broad way for me…

Golgohta by Gebre Kirstos Desta (1963)

The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Mount Golgotha as depicted above in ultimately simpler form shows a painting that transcends any another painting that attempts to represent Jesus on the cross. I heard the story a long time ago about how Gebrekirstos gave birth to this painting. It was when he was teaching a class in Addis Ababa University and the story goes as- one student painted a pitch-dark Jesus Christ and began arguing with other fellow students on the " Historical Jesus Christ." He argues with no plausible evidence that Jesus is Black and others argued he is White, again with no plausible evidence. Others, think Jesus had a certain amount of milanin pigment that gives him a color that is neither black nor white. The disargument was getting louder and out of control then Gebre Kirstos pops in and asked whats causing all this dispute. After hearing both side of the story he dismissed their argument without taking sides, however he came the next day, with the painting above, which he worked on it whole night. He said " This is Jesus. He is neither Black, nor White or anything in between, He is Pure Blood "

His students have nothing to say but admit and admire their professor.