MISHECK MASAMVU

— Misheck Masamvu

Goodman Gallery is pleased to present Exit Wounds, a presentation of recent paintings by Zimbabwean artist Misheck Masamvu. This follows the artist’s inclusion in the group exhibition ‘Translations: Afro-Asian Poetics’ curated by Dr. Zoé Whitley at The Institutum in Singapore earlier this year. The body of work combines striking colour with a distinct expressionist style, showcasing chaotic compositions, gestural brushwork, and perpetually shifting figures often portrayed in states of flux or transformation.

Masamvu belongs to a generation shaped by the struggles for independence. His work reflects a search for new perspectives on the confrontations created by colonial structures. Formally, the viewer is confronted with fragmented bodies, scenes, and passages that navigate between figuration and abstraction. The picture plane reveals poetic spaces and layered realities, inviting reflection on the formation of political subjects as agents of social transformation.

Masamvu, born in Zimbabwe in 1980, belongs to a generation shaped by the struggles for independence. His work reflects a search fornew perspectives on the confrontations created by colonial structures. His paintings reveal poetic spaces and layered realities, invitingreflection on the formation of political subjects as agents of social transformation. By oscillating between abstraction and figuration, thepresentation uses painting as a means to (re)think, (re)shape, and (re)imagine the world and our place within it.

The works featured in ‘Exit Wounds’ were created over several months and across different locations, including Harare, Johannesburg,Cape Town, and finally completed during a residency in Brussels last year. Through rhythmic counterposed lines and layered fields ofcolour, Masamvu explores structures of power and the impact of history on the contemporary moment. He also examines how we canadapt to a new way of engaging with the world. These latest works utilise transitions and interplay between the past, present, and futureto establish a new way of being. They reflect on ideas of sacrifice and renewal in the context of belonging and self-preservation, exploringthe fluidity of selfhood and interpersonal relationships. The works also highlight the potential for changing identities and the sharednature of affiliations.

Masamvu’s paintings present fragmented bodies, scenes, and passages that navigate between figuration and abstraction. They arecomposed of successive layers of colour that express the tension between repressed desire for change and the access routes carved forthe liberation of subjects. The art asserts itself as a space for reflection and the necessity of constant renewal, suggesting that certainstructures must give way for others to emerge and flourish. As Masamvu says of his practice: “With my work, the canvas offers me amoment to live and try things out. To feel my pulse. To ask. To be scared, and deal with that fear. To be courageous and to find myself. Todiscover a way to heal... because a painting takes everything, and above all, it gives me the agency to be my own protagonist.”

Misheck Masamvu (b. 1980, Zimbabwe) is widely regarded as one of the leading figures of the Harare painting school. Trained in Germany,Masamvu continues to live and work in Zimbabwe which provides rich inspiration for his gestural painting.

Notable solo and group exhibitions include ‘Translations: Afro-Asian Poetics’, The Institutum, Singapore (2024); ‘Inside Out’, FondationGrandpour l’Art, Geneva (2022); ‘Witness: Afro Perspectives’, El Espacio 23, Miami (2020); ‘Allied with Power: African and African DiasporaArt from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection’, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami (2020); and ‘Two Together’, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary ArtAfrica, Cape Town (2020).

Museum exhibitions and biennales include ‘The ‘t’ is silent’, 8th Biennial of Painting, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Sint-Martens-Latem(2022); ‘STILL ALIVE’, 5th Aichi Triennale, Aichi (2022), NIRIN, 22nd Sydney Biennale, Sydney (2020), the 32nd Bienal de São Paulo (2016).

Selected collections include: A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town; Braunsfelder Family Collection, Cologne; COMMA Foundation, Brussels;Igal Ahouvi Art Collection, Tel Aviv; Khouri Art Foundation, Dubai; Perez Art Museum, Miami; Pigozzi Collection, Geneva; Taguchi ArtCollection, Tokyo; Ueshima Museum, Tokyo; United States National Embassies Permanent Collection, Washington DC; X Museum,Beijing; and Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town.