Wosene kosrof biography samples
Wosene Worke Kosrof
Ethiopian artist
Wosene Worke Kosrof (born )[2] is an Ethiopian painter and mixed-media artist.
Wosene (his professional name) was awarded his B.F.A. from the School of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa in , and received an M.F.A. from Howard University in [2] He is best known for his inventive renderings of the Amharic script; and he is the first Ethiopian-born contemporary artist to incorporate these script symbols as a core aesthetic element in fine art paintings.
His recognizable "signature" emerges by distorting, elongating, dissecting, and reassembling the symbols as images.
Wosene kosrof biography samples That tradition is long and enduring — from imperial times to the present. In the middle section of the painting, the forms - moving dynamically against the white background -are almost a discernible conversation, recalling those years of conversations with my mother. London: Giles. Article Talk.Amharic is derived from the ancient language Ge’ez and a major modern language of Ethiopia, is one of the few written systems indigenous to Africa.
Wosene likes to examine the relationship between sound and color in art. He says jazz is especially important in his own creative process. Jazz improvisations underlie his compositions, animating them with rhythmic movements and emboldening his masterful use of color.[3]
Wosene's paintings, in his words, "create a visible, interacting surface - like an icon available to everyone; it allows them to have dialogue, to take them into memory"
Wosene explained that he does not pre-sketch paintings, "my process is inchoate and exploratory: the interplay of accident and intention, of mastery and uncertainty, of curiosity and discovery.
Student biography samples Type: featured Category: Contemporary Art. Although she always worked very hard, I grew up poor in the heart of a major African city. Then, by the time I started at Howard University, I was surprised that the art history professor was lecturing about my paintings as examples of the new contemporary art coming out of Africa. My works had a distinct African focus, though I was living and working full time in the US.Quick-drying acrylics allow me to easily build and destroy colors and figures on canvas."
A major aspect of Wosene’s works is that they present us with a challenge to look into the art, feel its effect, and to watch what happens. He paints from a place between mastery and uncertainty – and so the viewer too can approach his work to discover meanings that emerge through interaction
Wosene reflected on the effects of learning to see by viewing art in context of relationship between the risks of adolescence and the risks of art and stated: "Seeing differently, we then begin questioning our habits of mind and feel a new urge to create visions and images of what can be."[4]
Wosene's works are in museum collections, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (DC); The Newark Museum (NJ); Neuberger Museum (NY); Indianapolis Museum of Art (IN); Birmingham Museum of Art (AL); Fowler Museum, UCLA (CA); Samuel P.
Harn Museum (FL); the National Museum (Addis Ababa); and in many international private and corporate collections. He exhibits widely in the US, and he works from his studio in Oakland, CA.