Wosene Kosrof (1950- ) from Ethiopia now lives in California and has exhibited widely in the
United States, Ethiopia, Europe and Japan. His work is distinguished by canvases full of detail,
calligraphic symbols and panes of rich color. As Kennedy wrote in her book, “Drawing on the
wealth of calligraphy in the ancient liturgical languages of Geez and contemporary
Amharic, each
with alphabets of several hundred symbol characters, Wosene uses them like tracers to re-assert
the authority of history.” His painting Family Portrait lll brings to mind the work of Wilfredo
Lam of Trinidad in its rich coloration and intricate layers of detail highlighted with
punctuations of red. On careful inspection a group of figures wearing masks seem ready to march
forward out of the painting.
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