“When I get into colour, I realise that this is a deeper space, and I realise that I must travel within it… I can feel, I can hear, I cannot be stopped”. — 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.
Artworks
About
Misheck Masamvu
Misheck Masamvu (b. 1980, 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.
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. In 2020, Masamvu took part in the 22nd Biennale of Sydney.
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.
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