Image from the virtual gallery of Wosene Worke Kosrof's current solo exhibition, 'Words Matter, Two,' at Skoto Gallery in New York City. (Courtesy photo)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Updated: April 11th, 2020
New York (TADIAS) — Here are two great art exhibitions in New York City that you can enjoy virtually: Wosene Worke Kosrof’s current solo exhibition at Skoto Gallery and Aïda Muluneh’s photographs that are part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).
Wosene’s show at Skoto Gallery called Words Matter, Two had opened last month prior to the COVID-19 shutdown of the city, but it can now be viewed virtually with artwork available for purchase here.
Wosene describes his work in an artist statement on Skoto Gallery’s website as follows:
I don’t 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. I use a wide-ranging palette, from bold primary colors to muted tones that look almost repellent on my palette, but that smoothly integrate into a composition; to black and white paintings with bare touches of color; to works in several tones of a single color. Since my student years at the School of Fine Art in Addis Ababa (1967-1972), American jazz has asserted a significant influence on my painting. Like jazz music, the script provides a repertoire of dense, yet supple, elements that lend themselves well to visual improvisation. Jazz also influences my sense of composition: like improvisational music, the language symbols can be juxtaposed on canvas in nonverbal ‘word-plays’ to create a visual language of form and color, rhythm and movement.
The Japanese Garden, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 25×24 inches by WOSENE WORKE KOSROF. (Skoto Gallery)
MOMA’s collection of Aïda Muluneh’s photos
Similarly MOMA, which is considered one of the largest museums and preeminent art institutions in the world, is sharing some of its collections online, which includes photographs by Aïda Muluneh.
Photograph by Aïda Muluneh / Courtesy MOMA
“Like all museums in New York City, MOMA is closed until further notice,” The New Yorker magazine noted in a recent highlight. “But you can still see eighty-four thousand pieces from its collection online at MOMA.org. The magazine added: “All in One” from 2016, is by the gifted photographer Aïda Muluneh, who left her native Ethiopia as a young child and later got her start taking pictures for the Washington Post. A decade ago, Muluneh returned home to Addis Ababa, where she divides her time between making art and her work as a photojournalist.”
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Learn more about the virtual exhibitions at Skotogallery.com and MOMA.org.
Related:
Art in the Time of Coronavirus: Guide to Virtual Exhibitions from Ethiopia to U.S.
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