Wosene Worke Kosrof (born 1955) is an Ethiopian

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

mixed-media In visual art, mixed media describes artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed. Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different media. Materials used to create mixed media art incl ...

artist. Wosene (his professional name) was awarded his B.F.A. from the School of Fine Arts in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

in 1972, and received an M.F.A. from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

in 1980. He is best known for his inventive renderings of the

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

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. 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. 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. 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 Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the t ...

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."The Pleasures and Danger of Learning to See
WW KOSROF - EDUCATION THROUGH ART, 2006 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.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosrof, Wosene Worke 1950 births Living people Ethiopian painters