I’m drifting lost in a sea of cool blues, recognisable objects or body parts appear to catch my eye but then I lose them within the abstract composition. It’s like waking up from a dream where people and objects drift in and out of our memory and we can’t quite remember what we’ve seen. That’s my experience of standing in front of a large-scale painting by Freya Tewelde in her exhibition at The Bomb Factory in Chelsea, where she describes her works as figuration embedded in abstraction.
I switch over to a work whose base colour is pink and it feels very different, almost flesh-like and bruised, while smaller works with denser brush strokes feel like they’re channelling more intense emotions. It always amazes me how simple elements of a painting can make us feel so differently about each work and that’s what I get from Freya’s works that she says are open to any viewer’s interpretation.
These deeply spiritual works reflect the hidden energies within us all, designed to transport us into a more tranquil space and mindset. When so many people today are struggling with mental health, she wants her work to take us away from the real world, away from our phones and let our eyes wander over the little details in her works.
The spirituality in her work draws from her Eritrean heritage and the drums used for communication and in religious and spiritual services to guide us towards a more ethereal place.
Freya paints in a meditative state with the canvas on the floor as it brings her closer to her work and doesn’t allow for the more controlled style of painting on the wall where you can step back and get distance from the work – it ensures her mark-making is more intuitive and in keeping with the spiritual elements of her work.
Using powder pigment, with acrylic and oil sticks, the works have an ethereal feel – giving surreal and dream-like vibes as we can see through the layers in each work. The paintings often don’t go all the way to the edge, and there are empty patches without paint in them, Freya notes these relate to the fact that as with all things in life, they aren’t fluffy formed just as we continue to grow as individuals and even in conversations there are often words left unsaid. Her paintings reflect the uncertainty in life and that there’s room within that uncertainty for growth.
Her practice also incorporates photography and video, influencing the paintings that stand before me. Her works are best experienced by letting ourselves get lost within them, losing track of time as we briefly forget our Earthly worries and step into another realm.
Freya Tewelde: Dare to Journey into the Unknown is on at The Bomb Factory, Chelsea until 28th July. She is also showing in the group show Supernova at Flowers Gallery until 31st August. More details about her work are on her website and Instagram.
Lead photo by Antonie Parente. All others courtesy and copyright the artist.
