Elemental Coltrane II
Two-Dimensional Wall Art > Paintings (Acrylic)
48 x 70 x 2
$52,000.00
Artwork #
279
Artist's Statement
I am the first Ethiopian-born painter to transform Amharic script forms into contemporary fine art, and these script-images, infused with the beat of jazz, are now internationally recognized as my ‘artistic signature.’
Painting is an intense process of ‘dialoguing’ with the script, exploring the versatility and playfulness of its surfaces and interiors. I elongate, distort, invert, dissect, and recombine the shapes, and turn them inside out to discover their moods, tempers, and personalities. The script is divested of literal meaning to become gesture, dance, music – icons of the human drama.
American jazz has long been a major influence in my painting. Like John Coltrane’s improvisations on his saxophone, my work on canvas juxtaposes language symbols in nonverbal ‘word-plays’, creating improvisations in form and color, rhythm and movement. Elemental Coltrane II is a visual jam session arising out of an immense repertoire of jazz beats and dense, yet supple, script forms.
Artist
Wosene Worke Kosrof
Contact Information
(510) 501-7033
