Adiam Hailesillassie or the “diversity of the world” The face of man is a face of the world. The face of life. Should you paint what is on a face, inside a face, or behind a face? Pablo Picasso asked this question of the head and developed groundbreaking expressiveness for modern times: With him, the face of homo sapiens is largely deconstructed and completely detached from the classic portrait. “The secret within us” In the art of Adiam Hailesillassie we encounter many faces – and the diversity of the world. They are not real portraits of identifiable people, but complex physiognomies of the psyche. The images appear universal: they do not reflect any individual or identity - rather, they embody the search for individuality and identity. In a sense, they are timeless archetypes of faces, ambiguous, enigmatic, mysterious, sometimes mask-like - and of suggestive fascination. This is where humanity comes to light. It is no coincidence that a large Hailesillassie exhibition from 2013 was entitled “Inner Worlds”. It is no coincidence that one of her pictures is called: “The secret within us”. The painter was inspired by the legendary Shroud of Turin. She says: “There's a bit of Jesus in them.” And conversely, and quite secularly, one could add: Her pictures also contain the inner face of the viewer, who communicates with the subject through his feelings and impressions. The art of composition The range of works, not just the facial images, show the artist's compositional skills as well as her passion for emotional, vital, even sometimes shimmering colors. This is also evident in the tableaux, which create a large whole from the smallest of structures and (figurative) details. The painter works with oil or acrylic or even with charcoal. Compositions made of natural materials, canvas and paint are significant. “I often base my canvases with bamboo, paper, sand or stones.” This gives the artistic impression more depth. Natural tones or metallic values ​​are also popular, with the metal pigments radiating a special shine under light. Adiam Hailesillassie is a self-taught artist who has been working intensively artistically since 1999 and has deepened her skills in art courses. She draws inspiration “from working with people”, from the (creative) engagement with religion, especially Christianity and Buddhism, and from her travels to and stays in Eritrea, Rome, Sudan and Egypt. A key to her work lies in her biography, which, despite everything, could not take away her positive attitude to life: born in 1974, as a child she experienced the death of her parents and the war in her homeland, Eritrea. She came to Germany at the age of nine - and soon went her own way. The cover image of this catalog shows a face into which other physiognomies and figures are artfully integrated. In this way, the painter lets the viewer experience something very clearly - how one looks at, into and behind a face. Egon Heidefeld Gallery Heidefeld & Partner