Thaddeus Mosley
He // Him // His
[ID: A black man with a white goatee looks into the camera with a small smile. He is wearing a patterned cap and a checkered sweater over a tan collared shirt and is seated in his studio with wooden sculptures arranged behind him.]
Portrait photo by Jason Schmidt; courtesy of the artist and Karma.
Pittsburgh, PA
2023 USA Fellow
This award was generously supported by David Horvitz and Francie Bishop Good.
_
Thaddeus Mosley is a Pittsburgh-based, self-taught artist whose monumental sculptures are crafted with the felled trees of Pittsburgh’s urban canopy via the city’s Forestry Division. Using only a mallet and chisel, Mosley reworks salvaged timber into biomorphic forms. With influences ranging from Isamu Noguchi to Constantin Brâncuși — and the Bamum, Dogon, Baoulé, Senufo, Dan, and Mossi works of his personal collection — Mosley’s sculptures mark an inflection point in the history of American abstraction.
Inverted Dancer, 2020. Photo courtesy of the artist and Karma.[ID: Photo of a sculpture formed from several pieces of wood in which the grain and natural shapes are still visible. The pieces are balanced together into a tower evoking a group of acrobats.]
Illusory Progression, 2020. Photo courtesy of the artist and Karma.[ID: Photo of a tall wooden sculpture made of several pieces. At the top, a piece juts out like a horn, while another curves down like a banana.]
Katz Kurve, 2021. Photo courtesy of the artist and Karma.[ID: Photo of a wooden sculpture formed of two curved pieces of wood resting together in a keyhole shape. Carving marks and woodgrain are visible on the surface.]