BIO
Joe Kossow received a Master in Fine Arts degree from The American University in Washington, DC in 1982, where he studied with Ben Summerford, Robert D’Arista
and Jack Boul.
In 1983 he co-founded the Washington Studio School with Lee Newman, Carlton Fletcher, Jack Boul, Susan Yanero, David Holt, Jo Weiss,and Katie Murray. Joe taught at the Washington Studio School and local Washington area colleges for 8 years.
He was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields prize in 1983. His work has been shown in the
DC area, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and in Paris and Nancy, France. He lives and works
in Princeton, New Jersey.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I love everyday objects, and things that show their age. So I often paint old bottles
and tools, flowers and fruit. My painting is an affirmation of the importance of looking,
of perceiving, of drawing, of composing and finding a balance between visual drama
and stability. Being in love with oil paint as a material, I tend to obsess over all
the technical matters that make oil paintings interesting: edges; suggestions of
planes, forms, and spaces; tones; impasto; and the emotion inherent in chiaroscuro
and color. But mainly I paint because I have to. I tried not painting for a long while;
it left a hole that nothing else really filled.
A word on the recent ink wash drawings. The source material for these works are photographs that date from 1860-1940. I spend a long time editing the photos (changing their scale, eliminating certain elements, working with aspects of dark and light) until I have recomposed the works. I draw as accurately from the edited source material as I can, then take liberties with the brushwork to emphasize elements of light and dark as needed. I love the imaginative narrative inherent in these drawings of wrecked ships, old harbors, town life, people praying or people at a café.
