Geometry of Elsewhere

Gallery 1957, London is proud to present Geometry of Elsewhere, a solo exhibition of new works by Freya Tewelde, a London-based artist of Eritrean heritage. Opening on 5 June in London and taking place as part of London Gallery Weekend, the exhibition presents large-scale and smaller abstract paintings. Marking a departure from her previous explorations of the figurative, in Geometry of Elsewhere Tewelde expresses feeling through layered mark-making and an intuitive use of colour.

Born in Asmara, Eritrea and raised in Saudi Arabia, Tewelde draws on her diasporic experience and ancestral heritage to explore the notion of ‘in-betweenness’. Through rhythmic mark-making, her paintings dance between energetic and meditative states; they unfold across layered applications of powder pigment, oil stick and acrylic, inviting the viewer into states of suspension where colour, gesture and repetition remain in continual flux across the works’ surface.

Tewelde starts her paintings on the studio floor, where gravity grounds her work and shapes the canvas as a site of encounter. Drawings and sketches act as early anchors, but her work is resolved through spontaneous and then sustained engagement with surface and gesture. Her technique remains intuitive and led by feeling, as she allows each painting to develop through layering and interruption.

The exhibition marks the artist’s first with Gallery 1957, following the announcement of her representation in February. Gallery 1957’s London hub is a vibrant outpost and platform for African and diasporic artists in the UK, presenting ambitious new work.