Despite the festive, eye-friendly countenance of his art, Wosene’s abstract paintings, now at Sullivan Goss with the exhibit Words in Time, have a lot going on, beneath and within the bustling surfaces. The veteran artist known as Wosene (born Wosene Worke Korsof) is an Ethiopian-born and longtime Berkeley-based artist who creates an artistic realm nudging into diverse dimensions, both deeply personal, art historical, and cross-cultural. And yet the appeal is direct and vivid, on the eye-buzz front.
Although his paintings are abstract on one level, with skeins of busy, almost chattering visual action, he meaningfully tucks in references to the very look and form of the ancient Amharic script from his home country, and other signs of everyday life in the details. Details count for much here: Words as such are less important than the “personality” and shapes of specific letters and characters.
We are introduced to his world with “House of Words,” the largest piece (78” x 96”) in the entryway gallery of Sullivan Goss. Randomly placed letters and fragments thereof blend in with an array of material, structured, yet also free. Immediately, we understand the backstory that he is an artist who works while under the influence of jazz, played in the studio as inspiration hits and makes its mark.
Most of the pieces in the show are fresh goods, circa 2026, but for reference and context, the exhibition also wisely includes the 1987 piece “Midnight Improv” (its title a jazz touch). This is a painting from his early days in America, and New York City specifically, and his series Graffiti Magic, connected to his MFA show at Howard University. Compared to the brighter art in the space, the overall atmosphere here is darker and sparer in terms of the placement and density of its markings and floating imagery. But you can clearly see the roots of his later impulses and direction.
In a strange but lateral way, the jazz-art connection in Wosene’s work leads to unexpected parallels, such as a kinship to the “jazz age” cubism of Stuart Davis, for instance. Especially in Wosene’s pieces “Blue Train,” “Dance of Liberty,” and “Fogcatcher,” a vibrant and kinetic current runs through them, as in Davis’s paintings — a sense of rhythm and color in motion, wild yet tethered to underlying structure.
Other factors are at play. The basic abstraction impulse central to Wosene’s art takes a turn toward a literal real-world element in “A Year in the Life,” in which swatches of shiny, riveted tin and sliced shards of beer and beverage cans are literally woven into the familiar tight swirls and color bursts of his style. Junk art meets friendly design frenzy.
Through it all, Wosene also leans into the embrace of the festive color palettes and jubilant spirit of African art, music, and fashion, in such pieces as “Dance with Me III.” It’s the third in the series, a sign of the importance of an implicit “dance” imperative in his art.
Color takes a background role, though, in a subdued painting such as “Colors of Coltrane” (this title makes another jazz reference but made more explicit: given the meditative character of the painting, he must have been listening to Coltrane’s late period Impulse! Records albums at the time). Here, muted, thick black lines and shapes evoke a darker ambience than what we see and bathe in elsewhere in the gallery.
All told, Wosene has managed to create an artistic statement grounded in his own experience and self-translated view of the world. In that personalized place, African sensibilities converge with the abstraction realm — African influence naturally having been an influence on modern art’s evolution from Picasso and others on forward. As a bonus, an essence of jazz bubbles up in the background. It’s a happy, blended marriage.
Wosene’s Words in Time is on view at Sullivan Goss Gallery (11 E. Anapamu St.) through September 21. See sullivangoss.com/exhibitions.