BIOGRAPHY
Tariku Shiferaw was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1983, raised in Los Angeles, California, and now lives and works in New York City. He graduated from University of Southern California, Los Angeles (BFA, 2007) and Parsons School of Design, New York (MFA, 2015). He participated in the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program (2018 -2019) and Open Sessions at The Drawing Center (2018 – 2020). He was an artist-in-residence at the World Trade Center through Silver Art Projects (2020 - 2022).
Shiferaw is known for his practice of mark-making that explores the metaphysical ideas of painting and societal structures. This formal language of geometric abstraction is executed through densely layering material to create “marks,” gestures that interrogate space-making and reference the hierarchy of systems.
@ courtesy of Tariku Shiferaw Studios and Christopher-Garcia-Valle
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
- It’s a love thang, it’s a joy thang at Galerie Lelong & Co. New York, USA (2021)
- This Ain’t Safe at Cathouse Proper/ Brooklyn, NY, USA (2018)
- Erase Me at Addis Fine Art (London project space), London, UK (2017)
- One of These Black Boys at Anthony Philip Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY, USA (2017)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- That New New - curated by Tariku Shiferaw, Bloom Galerie, Geneva, Switzerland (2022)
- DIGS at Project8, Melbourne, Australia (2022)
- Summer of Possibilities - curated by Alteronce Gumby at Bode Projects Berlin, Germany (2022)
- Resilience - curated by Storm Asher, presented by Superposition Gallery at Eastville Community Historical Society, Hampton, NY, USA (2022)
- What You See Is What You Get at Massimo De Carlo Gallery, Milano, UK (2022)
- You’d Think By Now - curated by Rachel Steinberg at Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY, USA (2022)
- In Spite of Modernism: Contemporary Art, Abstract Legacies, and Identity, Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, USA (2022)
- Witness: African Diaspora at Piero Atchugarry, Miami, USA (2021)
- From Modern to Contemporary at CFHill Art Space, Stockholm, Sweden (2021)
- Abstraction in the Black Diaspora at False Flag Projects, co-curated by Ayanna Dozier and Tariku Shiferaw, Queens, USA (2021)
- BLACK VOICES/BLACK MICROCOSM at CFHill, curated by Destinee Ross, Stockholm, Sweden (2020)
- Various group shows in the United States (2013 - 2020)
Art Fairs
- Frieze Los Angeles 2022, USA (with Galerie Lelong & Co.)
MUSEUMS
- Geometries at Sugar Hill Museum - curated by Damien Davis, New York, USA (2022)
- Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth. at Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Organized by The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Baltimore, USA (2022)
- Unbound at Zuckerman Museum of Art, curated by Nzinga Simmons, Kennesaw, USA (2020)
- Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth. at California African American Museum (CAAM), Organized by The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Los Angeles, USA (2020)
Tariku Shiferaw is exhibited by Galerie LELONG & Co.
Instagram: @abstractexit
