February 1st - February 22nd, 2019

The Strand Center for the Arts was excited to host “My Reflection and Exploration,” painter, Petros Meaza Kewdie, in the Main Gallery in February 2019.

In 1997, Petros Meaza Zewdie received his BFA from the School of Fine Arts and Design at the University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Since that time, he has lived in various parts of the world, teaching and creating art. Concerning the latter endeavor, Zewdie is strongly influenced by spirituality and insights about the connections of women with nature and magic, as well as the spiritual/psychic dimensions. His passion for the figurative art, combined with patterns and expressionistic abstracts, has led him to follow a classical tradition of drawing and using a realistic representation of the human figure to bring reality closer to the realm of dreams and spirituality, creating a world of visual poetry where light and darkness collide and reveal the symbolic and the mystical.

In this regard, Zewdie stated: “Whenever I wanted answers or inspiration for life and art, it was not in the mundane or in the ordinary life that I looked for them, but in the unlimited world of my inner reality. This world, inhabited by mysterious places and people, has its own stories, its own rules, its own wisdom. I am only the storyteller.” 

Zewdie thinks of his art as a celebration of the human experience, from the sacred to the profane. To him, there is nothing more fascinating than the mystery, which he sees as the basic source of all his reflections and explorations. He has said, “In my work I constantly investigate the point of contact between the physical and the reality of dreams, spirituality, and abstract concepts. Themes like transformation and transitions, spiritual and emotional experiences.”

 As Zewdie’s works developed throughout the years, he has seen a direct influence of African culture and social history. His philosophical and mythological stand is reflected through the vivid, energetic, and intense works of art works he creates. “A natural reality,” he claimed, “is always a starting point and then evolves through the process. 

 Concerning this exhibition, gallery director for The Strand Center for the Arts, David Monette, stated, “I’m really excited about this show. Petro’s work has been exhibited from Antigua to New York City, and from Dominica to Montreal, and a host of countries in between. We are incredibly fortunate to have an international artist of Petro’s caliber here in Plattsburgh.”