Description
Acrylic on canvas, Dereje Shiferaw (Ethiopian, born 1976)
The Eyes of the Storm, 2025
100 x 100 cm
In The Eye of the Storm, Dereje Shiferaw explores the tension between chaos and stillness through a powerful interplay of bold gestures, contrasting colours and layered textures. Fiery reds, deep blacks and dark blues dominate the composition, interrupted by flashes of yellow, ochre and pale neutrals that cut through the intensity like fragments of light emerging from the turmoil.
Sweeping lines and intersecting forms create a sense of restless movement, drawing the eye through a dense network of marks and overlapping surfaces. Amid this apparent disorder, a more delicate central arrangement emerges, offering a moment of visual pause within the surrounding turbulence. This fragile sense of balance becomes the focal point of the work, suggesting an inner stillness that persists even when everything around it seems unstable.
The composition evokes the experience of standing at the centre of upheaval, where opposing forces collide and uncertainty gives way to the possibility of change. Rather than presenting chaos as purely destructive, Shiferaw suggests that moments of disruption can also become spaces for transformation, revealing unexpected forms of strength and clarity.
Through its expressive energy and striking contrasts, The Eye of the Storm invites viewers to reflect on resilience, instability and the quiet power of finding stillness amid life’s most turbulent moments.
Signed ‘Dereje (front)
Provenance: Direct from the artist
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