Goodman Gallery is pleased to present Mubato (The Handle) by Misheck Masamvu, marking a return to the London space following his solo exhibition in 2021. Including new work produced while on residency at G.A.S. Foundation in Nigeria in 2024, the exhibition deepens the artist’s exploration of psychological uncertainty and existential fragility, first introduced in Safety Pin in 2023 at Goodman Gallery Cape Town.
The Shona term ‘mubato’ translates directly to “handle” evoking notions of grip, control, and the point of interaction with an object or idea. In Masamvu’s hands ‘mubato’ becomes a powerful metaphor for the ways individuals engage with the world: as a tool for self-determination, a boundary for protection, and a means of negotiating life’s precarities. This handle – both literal and symbolic – represents the delicate balance between holding on and letting go, between individual autonomy and collective participation. By rooting the exhibition in this Shona concept, Masamvu ties the works to a linguistic and cultural heritage that foregrounds the complexities of individual and shared responsibilities.
In his new body of work, Masamvu looks at these complexities through gestural abstraction and rich, layered textures on canvas. These paintings occupy a space where clarity meets distortion, presenting fragmented narratives and fluid forms that echo the intricate rhythms of the human psyche. Navigating between hope and despair, stability and disruption, Masamvu’s work challenges viewers to confront the dynamic roles, actions, and responsibilities that shape our shared and individual realities. This compelling series of paintings invites introspection and dialogue, offering a powerful exploration of the human condition.
Oscillating between abstraction and figuration, Misheck Masamvu’s (b. 1980, Mutare, Zimbabwe) works allow him to address the past while searching for a way of being in the world. As one of the most significant artists from Zimbabwe, Masamvu’s work offers a renewed understanding of visual culture in Africa and the decolonial project more broadly. Rhythmic lines and layered fields of colour have become a prominent language for Masamvu to explore structures of power and how history comes to bear on the contemporary moment, but also how one can adapt to a new way of interacting with the world.
Masamvu was featured in a major group show in early 2024: Translations: Afro-Asian Poetics, curated by Dr. Zoé Whitley at The Institutum in Singapore.
Notable group exhibitions include: Inside Out, Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Geneva (2022); Witness: Afro Perspectives, El Espacio 23, Miami, USA (2020); Allied with Power: African and African Diaspora Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami (2020); Two Together, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town (2020); Five Bobh: Painting at the End of an Era, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town (2017); Africa 2.0 > is there a Contemporary African art?, Influx Contemporary Art, Lisbon (2010); Art, Migration and Identity,, Africa Museum, Arnhem (2008); and 696 , National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare (2008).
Major international exhibitions include: The ‘t’ is silent , 8th Biennial of Painting, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium (2022); STILL ALIVE , 5th Aichi Triennale, Aichi, Japan (2022), NIRIN , 22nd Sydney Biennale, Sydney (2020); Incerteza Viva (Live Uncertainty), the 32nd Bienal de São Paulo (2016) and his international debut at Zimbabwe’s inaugural Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011).
Collections include: A4 Arts Foundation (Cape Town, South Africa); Braunsfelder Family Collection (Cologne, Germany); Uieshema Collection (Tokyo, Japan); Perez Art Museum (Miami, USA); Pigozzi Collection (Geneva, Switzerland); Taguchi Art Collection (Tokyo, Japan); Fukutake Foundation (Auckland, New Zealand); COMMA Foundation (Damme, Belgium); ANA Collection (Lagos, Nigeria); Sigg Art Foundation, Le Castellet, France; Fondation Gandur pour l’Art (Geneva, Switzerland); and Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Cape Town, South Africa).
Masamvu lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe.
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