Wosene Worke Kosrof
Encyclopedia
Wosene Worke Kosrof is an Ethiopia
n 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 1972, and received an M.F.A. from Howard University
in 1980. 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 also uses the language Ge'ez
in his work, which is the Ethiopian Orthodox Church's liturgical language.
Wosene likes to examine the relationship between sound and color in art. He says jazz is especially important in his own creative process.
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 reflected on 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."
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.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
n painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and mixed-media artist.
Wosene (his professional name) was awarded his B.F.A. from the School of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
in 1972, and received an M.F.A. from Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
in 1980. 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 also uses the language Ge'ez
Ge'ez language
Ge'ez is an ancient South Semitic language that developed in the northern region of Ethiopia and southern Eritrea in the Horn of Africa...
in his work, which is the Ethiopian Orthodox Church's liturgical language.
Wosene likes to examine the relationship between sound and color in art. He says jazz is especially important in his own creative process.
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 reflected on on the effects of learning to see by viewing art in context of relationship between the risks of adolescence
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
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."
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.
External links
- Official site
- Words: From Spoken to Seen. The Art of Wosene Worke Kosrof - Guilford College, Art Gallery.