Sono Osato, Diluvia 4, 2023
tinted rabbit skin glue ground and oil on panel, 48 x 48 in.
Creating work that manifests the undulation of the time through layered forms, Sono Osato’s paintings combine language, technology, and archaeology through the medium of tinted rabbit-skin glue, oil paint, and found objects. Over the course of more than three decades, Osato’s investigations have evolved from thick impasto surfaces inspired by geological strata, to the heavily encrusted surfaces full of animal bones, machine parts engulfed in oil paint, and encaustic of her Silent Language series, to the textured topographies of her Babylon works. From the Babylon series, comes Umma (triptych), (2009), whose surface is a mixture of attached machine parts and found objects over a painted array of layered abstract shapes.
Derived from the silhouettes of mechanical parts Osato has mined from typewriters, adding machines, and other antiquated technologies, these layered forms recall the strata of artifacts found in archeological digs. The name Umma, derives from the ancient Sumerian city of the same name, located in Dhi Qar Province, Iraq, which was first excavated in 1854. As is often her practice, Osato chose to name the painting after this place in part because of its ties to one of the oldest known human civilizations and also one of the oldest known languages.
The most recent evolution of Osato’s works, the Submergence series, has seen the movement of the objects from the surface to within the picture plane and also the enlargement of their forms to greater than life size. Diluvia 4 (2022), with its layering of semi-translucent shapes is one of the newest works from the series. About these works, Osato has written:
In recent years, the impasto has completely disappeared and the layers have liquified. Metaphorically, earth has succumbed to the sea. Instead of an aerial view of the traces of time, I am now looking at the scattered fragments from underneath, through water. Thoroughly submerged, the tracings of old machine parts that I have sifted into a kind of asemic alphabet and read like floating debris are starting to push past being palimpsestual to a paradoxical dissolution where shape and spacial relationships are thrown into the blender, submitting to the deluge, so that one loses their footing entirely and has to look for a suspended period of time before they locate where they are.
Throughout the evolution of my work, I’ve repeatedly returned to trying to feel, envision and interact with a sense of time that is utterly indifferent to me in which it’s possible for the past, present and future to collapse into a single breath, and it’s credible to say that we are all each other in our reckoning with a gestalt far greater than ourselves.
Born in Baden-Baden, Germany, Sono Osato earned her BFA from Arizona State University, Tempe, and her MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, (now California College of the Arts, San Francisco). Osato’s works have been exhibited extensively in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, and Austin, TX, where she currently lives and works. She has been the recipient of Pollock-Krasner Foundation grants in 1989, 1999, and 2008. Her works can be found in the collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Oakland Museum of California; di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa; Stanford Law School, Stanford University; and the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, as well as many private collections.
SONO OSATO
Born 1960 Baden Baden Germany
EDUCATION
1986 MFA, California College of Art, Oakland, CA
1983 BFA, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS
2023 Diluvia, Brian Gross Fine Art on Artsy
2022 Silent Language, ICOSA Window Dressing Series, Austin TX
2017 Submergence, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2009 Babylon :The Buried Language Series, Brian Gross Fine Art, CA
2007 Silent Language, GALLERYtwenty-four, Brooklyn, NY
2006 Revenant, Art in Odd Places (Outdoor Projections), curated by Jeremy Helton, New York, NY
2005 Angels in Dust, Brian Gross Fine Art
2003 Echo, Brian Gross Fine Art
2002 Paintings/Assemblages, BGFA at One Post Street, San Francisco, CA
2001 New Work, Lowery Gallery, Athens, GA
1999 The Sound of Ku: New Paintings, Brian Gross Fine Art
1998 S(O)UND, Natalie & James Thompson Gallery, San Jose State University
1994 S(P)OO(O)R, Terrain, San Francisco
1993 Oakland Drawers, Oakland Museum Sculpture Court @ Civic Center, Oakland, CA
1992 New Sculpture by Sono Osato, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco
1991 Utland, San Jose Institute for Contemporary Art
Exploded Crate, Laguna Art Museum Satellite @ South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, CA
Painting as Sculpture Installation, UC Davis Art Center, Davis, CA
New Work, Terrain Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1989 Innojo Eard Onwaecna, Fuller Gross Gallery, San Francisco, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 To the Max, di Rosa Center of Contemporary Art, Napa
2022 GESTURE/COLOR/FORM, Brian Gross Fine Art
2020 30th Anniversary Exhibition, Brian Gross Fine Art
Mask Collection, Vault Stone Shop, Austin, TX, curated by GD Wright
2019 Open Space, ICOSA Collective, Austin TX, curated by Leslie Moody-Castro
2014 The Right Amount of Wrong, ISE Foundation, NYC, Curated by Lovina Purple
Traces, 7 DUNHAM, Brooklyn, NY , curated by ARMCHAIR/SHOTGUN,
2013 A Cage Went in Search Of a Bird, Radiator Arts, NYC, curated by Sarah Walko
2011 Piece of Mind, Elga Wimmer Gallery, NYC , curated by FIT MA program
2008 Beauty's Burden, Educational Alliance, NYC , curated by David Gibson
2007 Honoring CCA at 100: Works by Arneson, De Forest, Fleming, Osato, & Solomon, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
CCA(C) @ Di Rosa Preserve: Celebration of CCA's Centennial with Prominent Alumni in the Collection , Napa, CA
Tuttavia Povera, Shore Institute for Contemporary Art, Long Branch, NJ
2006 International Assemblage Art Exhibition, GALLERY twenty-four, Berlin,Germany
Remnants, Lemmons Contemporary, NYC
Three Person Show (with Tatiana Parcero & Oscar Muñoz), Gaviria-Lorduy Fine Arts, Brooklyn, NY Egg Drop Soup, Salon on South Second, Brooklyn, NY , curated by Kat Kriefen
Rumble-20 DUMBO Artists, Tribes Gallery, NYC, curated by David Krepfle
2000 Time Capsule, Refusalon, San Francisco
1999 Meaning and Message: Contemporary Art from the Museum Collection, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA.
San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, Refusalon San Francisco
Requiem: Living Artists Eulogize a Dying Century, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA
1997 The Art Orchestra (A Sculptor's Ensemble),performed at Florence Gould Theater,San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, written
and directed by Tom Marioni
1996 Trace, The Dead Space Gallery, Portland, ME
Samplings, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco
Public Art/Public Space/Public Process, South of Market Cultural Center, San Francisco
Roots in Asia, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA.
Facing Eden,: 100 Years of Landscape Art in the Bay Area, De Young Museum, San Francisco
1994 Wunderkammer, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, curated by Maria Porges 1993 Trash, Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco
1991 Ad Majorem Dei Glorium, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
1990 Ymbspr C Rhymet, The Left Bank Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Wall Sculpture: The Art of Found Objects,Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco Oakland Artists ‘90, Oakland Museum
Chain Reaction, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery
1989 Fresh Views, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA. Guerrilla (Girls), Terrain
Eye Sores, New Langton Arts, San Francisco, curated by Nayland Blake.
1988 LOCI, 3 honored artists selected by SFMOMA, curated by Graham Beal, Pro Arts, Oakland, CA
1987 Monumental Women, South of Market Cultural Center, San Francisco,curated by Jo Babcock & Michael Bell
X the Unknown, curated by Michelle Ellis Pracy, at an independent site, San Francisco
AWARDS
2008, 1999, &1989 Pollock-Krasner Grant
2000 CHANGE INC.
1997 Djerassi Foundation Artist in Residency
1995 Contemporary Art Center of Herblay, Artist in Residency, Pontoise, France
1994 ART MATTERS INC.
1988 Djerrassi Foundation Fellowship in Visual Arts, Ridge Vineyards LOCI, Award Exhibition, “Best of Show” from 1988 Pro Arts Annual Djerassi Foundation Artist in Residency
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Stanford University Law School
Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
di Rosa Preserve, Napa Valley, CA
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach CA
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
SELECTED SPEAKING
2004 Panelist, The Way Things Are;Tribute to David Ireland, Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin County, CA 2000 UC Berkeley
1999 Video Interview for The Meaning and the Message, Oakland Museum
Anderson Ranch, Colorado
1998 San Jose State University, San Jose, CA.
1996 Interview, Women in the Arts, KALX, Berkeley, CA
Panelist , All Else....Being Equal?, CCA 1994 Sonoma State University
UC Berkeley
1992 Excerpts from Stone Soup, broadcast on Word and Image, KPFA 94FM Public Radio,Berkeley, CA. 1992 Stone Soup, producer and hostess of a private reading and performance series
Panelist, Asian American Arts Conference, UC Berkeley
1991 Key Speaker, Pro Arts Open Studios: Collecting Art in the Bay Area, Pro Arts 1990 Kansas City Art Institute
Panelist, Culture Under Fire, Greater Kansas City Coalition Against Censorship, KCAI 1989 Panelist, N. California Sculpture Symposia, The Art of Place, Sonoma State University
Woman’s Image Now, Arizona State University
Interview, State of the Arts, KUSP 89 FM Public Radio, Santa Cruz, CA.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2022 Amin, Lakshmi Rivera, A View from the Easel, Hyperallergic, November 16 2017 Roth, David. Sono Osato @ Brian Gross Fine Art, Square Cylinder, July 18
DeWitt Cheng. Sono Osato @ Brian Gross Fine Arts, Visual Art Source, July 28
2009 Baker, Kenneth. Sono Osato-“Babylon: the Buried Language Series”, SF Chronicle, April 4.
Swanhuyser, Hiya. Danger Beauty Goo, SF Weekly, March 4-10
Cerbini, Lorenza.Creativity at Work, SpeakUp, Milan, Italy
2005 Baker, Kenneth. Sono Osato-“Angels in Dust”, SF Chronicle, April 2.
2003 Baker, Kenneth. Objects Speak a Private Code in 'Silent Language”, SF Chronicle, April 19 2002 Baker, Kenneth. Critics Picks, SF Chronicle, June 7
2000 Porges, Maria. Review of the Sound of Ku, Artforum, March
Bonetti, David. Charting 35 years of California Art, SF Examiner, January 6 1999 Baker, Kenneth. Bearable Weightlessness of Being,SF Chronicle, December 18
Sherman, Ann Elliot. Second Impressions, Meaning and Message in Contemporary Art, The Museum of California, Fall
Cullum, Jerry. What's on the Surface isn't the Whole Story, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 16 1998 Miller, Alicia. The Secrets of Nature at Paradise Wood Sculpture Grove, Artweek, July/August
1993 Litfin, Katy. Profile: Sono Osato, City Life Magazine, July/August
Thym, Jolene. Sculpture Offers Visitors to Peek Inside Oakland’s ‘Drawers,Oakland Tribune, June,7 Hull-Webster, Mary. A Conversation with Sono Osato, Artweek, May 20
1992 Jan, Alfred. Sono Osato at Terrain, New Art Examiner, December 3
Cohn, Terri. The Forgotten and the Familiar, Artweek, October 22
Baker, Kenneth. Scavenged Material Becomes Sculpture,SF Chronicle, September 15
1991 Sherman, Ann Elliott. Detritus and True, The Metro, San Jose, November 7
Burkhart, Dorothy. Poetry from Piles of Stuff, San Jose Mercury News, November 1
Bonetti, David, Sono Osato at Terrain Gallery, Artnews, October
Littlefield, Kinney. Oakland Artist Explores a Deeper Shade of Black,The Orange County Register,August 30 Curtis, Cathy. There's More Than Meets the Eye at Offbeat Laguna Museum Exhibit, LA Times, August 25 Baker, Kenneth. Osato's Salvage Show at Terrain, SF Chronicle, April 4
Bonetti, David, Artist with a Cinderella Touch, SF Examiner, March 29
1990 .Baker, Kenneth. Review of Fuller- Gross Exhibition, SF Chronicle June 13 Baker, Kenneth. Installation Explores 'Art/Non Art' Question, SF Chronicle May 2
1987 Solnit, Rebecca. A Sense of Presence, Artweek, July 25
Baker, Kenneth. Different Kinds of Raw Art, SF Chronicle, January 17
1986 .Baker, Kenneth. Sono Osato at New Art, SF Chronicle, July 4
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2012 Featured Artist, Armchair/Shotgun, Volume 2
2000 Home is Inside Me, Stretcher.Org
1999 Southern Exposure 25 Year Silver Anniversary Box Set
di-ROSA Preserve/Art & Nature Local Color-ing Book first edition
1995 Facing Eden-100 Years of Landscape Art in the Bay Area, edited by Steven Nash 1991 Spirituality and the Avant-Garde, Five Fingers Review
1988 Alot of People Just Don't Get it, CRACK 3
TEACHING
2001 Intermediate Painting, & Foundation 2-D, University of Georgia, Athens 2000 Intermediate Painting, & Foundation 2-D, University of Georgia, Athens
Independent Graduate Studies, California College of Art 1999 Open Seminar, Graduate Studies, California College of Art
Through the Body; Paint as Substance, Anderson Ranch
1996 The Circle as Paradigm, Interdisciplinary Graduate Seminar, California College of Art 1995 Interdisciplinary Critique team taught w/ William Farley, California College of Art 1994 Interdisciplinary Graduate Seminar, California College of Art
1993 Graduate Seminar-New Genre, San Francisco Art Institute
1992 Interdisciplinary Sculpture, San Francisco Art Institute
Beginning Drawing, Mills College
1990 Beginning Drawing & Advanced Painting, Kansas City Art Institute
Sono Osato
Umma, 2009
tinted rabbit-skin glue ground, oil & reclaimed objects on panel
14 x 36 in. (triptych); 14 x 12 in. (panel)
