Part of Zimbabwe’s ‘born-free generation’, Misheck Masamvu (b. 1980 in Penhalonga, Zimbabwe) explores and comments on the socio-political setting of post-independence Zimbabwe, and draws attention to the impact of economic policies that sustain political mayhem. Masamvu raises questions and ideas around the state of ‘being’ and the preservation of dignity. His practice encompasses drawing, painting and sculpture.
Read MoreMisheck Masamvu studied at Atelier Delta and Kunste Akademie in Munich, where he initially specialised in the realist style, and later developed a more avant-garde expressionist mode of representation with dramatic and graphic brushstrokes. His work deliberately uses this expressionist depiction, in conjunction with controversial subject matter, to push his audience to levels of visceral discomfort with the purpose of accurately capturing the plight, political turmoil and concerns of his Zimbabwean subjects and their experiences. His works serve as a reminder that the artist is constantly socially-engaged and is tasked with being a voice to give shape and form to a humane sociological topography.
Masamvu’s work has been well-received and exhibited in numerous shows including Armory Show 2018, Art Basel 2018, Basel Miami Beach 2017, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair New York 2016, São Paulo Biennale 2016, and the Venice Biennale, Zimbabwe Pavillion 2011.
Text courtesy Goodman Gallery.
Related Press ‘STILL STILL:’ In Conversation with Misheck Masamvu ART AFRICA: So let's start from the beginning. Please tell us a bit about your childhood? Were you an only child? Misheck Masamvu: No, I was born in a family of what was meant to be six siblings, six children, but then my twin died. So there were five that survived. I'm the only boy. I grew up in a family with girls. It wasn't easy, as I was...
Related Press Carnivorous Politics, Defiant Bodies: Harare Painting in Turbulent Times 26 May 2018, Frieze Over the past two decades, Zimbabwe, a largely agrarian southern African country of 17 million inhabitants, has been buffeted by seemingly endless troubles. The carnivorous politics at the centre of these problems are hard to overlook – particularly in appraisals of art from this landlocked country – but are also easily overstated. Despite the...
Related Press South African art shines at the Armory Show 9 March 2018, The Art Newspaper Two years after the Armory Show's Focus section offered a cross section of African galleries (the geographic frame was abandoned thereafter), dealers and young artists from South Africa, already in the spotlight with the opening of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, have made a particularly strong showing at this year's fair (8-11...
Related Press South Africa’s hottest artists at 1:54 New York this week 5 May 2016, The South African Aida Muluneh: A critically acclaimed photographer, Aida Muluneh's work is firmly embedded in the essences of identity, memory, relationships and emotion. Having lived in Ethiopia, Yemen, England and Cyprus as a child, Muluneh temporarily settled in Canada in 1985, before taking up study at Howard University in Washington, the US in 2000, where she...
