Atbeka Negga Tesfaye was born in 1970 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He graduated from an art school with honors, which provided him the opportunity to study abroad. As a great admirer of Russian and Soviet painting, he chose the Russian Academy of Arts. He graduated with honors in 1997 with his thesis painting titled "Return from the Hunt." He has been a member of the Union of Artists of Russia since 1998. Since that year, he has been teaching at the Department of Painting and Drawing at the St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design, currently serving as an associate professor at the Department of Painting and Drawing.
In his work, the author intertwines classical realism with ethnic motifs. His portfolio includes portraits, still lifes, and landscapes, and he successfully conveys the beauty of his beloved St. Petersburg as well as other cities, such as Venice. He is a regular participant in seasonal, city, and regional exhibitions of the Union of Artists of Russia. In 1999, he participated in the restoration of the interior of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, for which he was awarded a medal from the Russian Academy of Arts. From 1998 to 2003, he exhibited regularly in Switzerland, particularly in Geneva and Zurich. In 2006, he represented St. Petersburg in Nancy, France, and received an honorary diploma. In 2008, as a representative of St. Petersburg, he participated in the 2008 Biennale in Vilnius. In 2015, he was elected a corresponding member of the Peter the Great Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 2018, based on a survey of students, he was named "Person of the Year 2018" as the most competent instructor at the Institute of Design and Communication at St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design. His works are held in private collections in Russia, Britain, Switzerland, the USA, France, Sweden, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and other countries around the world.

Artist, Ethiopia

Teasfay Atcbekha Negga