His early devotion to his
spiritual well-being served as a solid foundation for his current artistic
character. He chose to attend a spiritual school because of his family’s strong
support for Christianity, which also inspired him to make Christianity the
central focus of his artwork.
Worku Goshu was born in
1942 in the town of Ambo, and from the time he was very young, he began to
create paintings of flowers for the new year and patterns for housewives’
embroidery works, which served as the beginning of his longer artistic path. He
says he studied contemporary education with Ethiopian playwright Louret Tsegaye
Gebremedhin while receiving his spiritual education at Yeneta Akalu religious
school in Ambo town.
In 1960, he joined the
Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts, and after studying painting, drawing, and
graphics, he graduated in 1964 with the prominent Ethiopian modern artist
and his classmates Worku Mamo and Ketsela Atenafu, who was the first female
student at that school. In 967, in order to strengthen his modern education, he
acquired a grant to study at the Academy of Arts in Krakow, Poland, and he
obtained his master’s degree. It was also a good opportunity for him to meet
his life partner, Barbara Goshu, at the Academy of Arts in Krakow.
He traveled to various
European cities while attending school in Poland. He improved his artistic
knowledge as a result of this educational tour. Worku believes that Marc
Chagall, a well-known Ukrainian symbolist painter, has influenced his painting
style. However, Gishu’s artwork strongly reflects the fusion of traditional
Ethiopian painting with modern style.
After returning to his
country with his wife, he worked at the Berhanena Selam Publishing House for a
while. In 1974, he was employed at the Addis Abeba School of Fine Arts, where
he was assigned to the painting department and taught art for twenty-seven
years. As he is an artist who has a close connection to and respect for the
ancient spiritual tradition of Ethiopia, he has been successful in his effort
to represent the spiritual heritage with a new modernist style.
Worku Goshu asserts that
his church education not only influenced him to pursue a career as a painter,
but that his faith and spirituality are central to his artwork. He laments the Western and Eastern worlds’
declining spirituality. He believes that God is the one who guards Ethiopia.
Beyond words, his work shows the reflection of his thoughts on spirituality.
He has attempted to
convey his personal insights and understandings through his visual art, even
though his works predominantly address subjects relating to the teachings of
the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. He is a well-known modern painter from Ethiopia
who focuses more on the traditional spiritual and cultural aspects of his
country, Ethiopia. He believes that creating his art with a unique spiritual
underpinning has helped him develop his sense of artistic self.
Worku Goshu is recognized
for structuring free compositions, and his works cover a variety of topics. He
is also well-known for painting landscapes and portraits. He is well-versed in
adopting an abstract aesthetic to portray a variety of works, and he is
well-known for his watercolors.
His first exhibition was
in 1972, and since then, he has taken part in several private and group art exhibitions
both domestically and internationally. Worku Goshu has won numerous awards for
his developed visual art skills, both in Ethiopia and overseas.
