Patrick Makumbe
Kuva Ziso
First Floor Gallery Harare (Harare)
Kuva Ziso
First Floor Gallery Harare (Harare)
One of the defining features of Zimbabwean art for almost a century has been the remarkable and arguably unique recognition and impact in the international art annals, which commenced in the 1950s, with Kigsley Sambo, Thomas Mukarobgwa and Joseph Nandarika acquisitions by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and and has also spurred on the creativity of major artists like Chris Ofili and Melvin Edwards. This incredible capacity for ‘punching above its weight’ has spurred on the ambitions for achievement by every generation of artist ever since from Tapfuma Gutsa and Berry Bickle to younger artists like Portia Zvavahera.
Patrick Makumbe is no different. He was the first Zimbabwean artist and one of the first African artists to be accepted into the prestigious and incredibly competitive Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and has exhibited widely in Europe and South Africa, all the while being committed to living and working in Zimbabwe. Thus becoming a contemporary role model for the small community of emerging contemporary artists that you did not need to abandon home and the source of your inspiration to ‘make it’.
At the same time in the words of Tapfuma Gutsa “Patrick Makumbe is the bridge!”
His practice inspired by the school of Harare based artists of the 1980s and 1990s, most recogniseable in the work of Luis Meque is crucial to understanding the story Zimbabwean painting over the past 70s from Kigsley Sambo to Misheck Masamvu and Wycliffe Mundopa. This story is marked by the value that Zimbabwean painters placed on being close to their community, the importance of telling the stories of ordinary people on their own terms at the same time as commitment to technical accomplishment in their painting that places them among the greatest globally, without apology.
And while achieving internationally has been the default for Zimbabwean artists and for Makumbe, it is in the local context that his works shine at their brightest. At a time in global culture when the question of authenticity in representation is often in debate, nowhere do his paintings ring as true as poignantly as they do in Zimbabwe. “My work is greatly influenced by my experience as a Zimbabwean. I paint everyday life, the struggle and the harshness experienced by people living in the city. In my world where there is no freedom of speech; one can only wonder what the other is thinking. My work is about conversation, silence, solitude, space, colour and shadow. My figures are rendered in rough and smooth brushwork set off against a loose background that erodes the edges of a silhouette. I don't focus on the face as I am more deeply moved by body language and actions.” Patrick Makumbe
While the sentiments in Makumbe’s paintings like compassion, empathy, friendship, simple joys of camaraderie are manifestly universal and endear them to everyone, it is only in Zimbabwe that people can look at them and see, say and feel ‘this is us’. Makumbe’s works are the epitome of what it means for an artist to share with his audiences the gift of being seen. We are all privileged to receive this gift in Kuva Ziso.
Valerie Kabov
@2023
Patrick Makumbe is no different. He was the first Zimbabwean artist and one of the first African artists to be accepted into the prestigious and incredibly competitive Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and has exhibited widely in Europe and South Africa, all the while being committed to living and working in Zimbabwe. Thus becoming a contemporary role model for the small community of emerging contemporary artists that you did not need to abandon home and the source of your inspiration to ‘make it’.
At the same time in the words of Tapfuma Gutsa “Patrick Makumbe is the bridge!”
His practice inspired by the school of Harare based artists of the 1980s and 1990s, most recogniseable in the work of Luis Meque is crucial to understanding the story Zimbabwean painting over the past 70s from Kigsley Sambo to Misheck Masamvu and Wycliffe Mundopa. This story is marked by the value that Zimbabwean painters placed on being close to their community, the importance of telling the stories of ordinary people on their own terms at the same time as commitment to technical accomplishment in their painting that places them among the greatest globally, without apology.
And while achieving internationally has been the default for Zimbabwean artists and for Makumbe, it is in the local context that his works shine at their brightest. At a time in global culture when the question of authenticity in representation is often in debate, nowhere do his paintings ring as true as poignantly as they do in Zimbabwe. “My work is greatly influenced by my experience as a Zimbabwean. I paint everyday life, the struggle and the harshness experienced by people living in the city. In my world where there is no freedom of speech; one can only wonder what the other is thinking. My work is about conversation, silence, solitude, space, colour and shadow. My figures are rendered in rough and smooth brushwork set off against a loose background that erodes the edges of a silhouette. I don't focus on the face as I am more deeply moved by body language and actions.” Patrick Makumbe
While the sentiments in Makumbe’s paintings like compassion, empathy, friendship, simple joys of camaraderie are manifestly universal and endear them to everyone, it is only in Zimbabwe that people can look at them and see, say and feel ‘this is us’. Makumbe’s works are the epitome of what it means for an artist to share with his audiences the gift of being seen. We are all privileged to receive this gift in Kuva Ziso.
Valerie Kabov
@2023
Biography
Born 1978 Harare, Zimbabwe
Lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe
Education and Training
1998 - 1999 - B.A.T Visual Art Studios under National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe.
2004 - 2005 - Rijksakademie Van Beeldend Kunsten, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Having displayed an early gift for drawing, Patrick Makumbe joined the wave of figurative painters such as Luis Meque, Ishmael Wilfred, Hillary Kashiri and George Churu and which emerged from the B.A.T. Workshop (now the National Gallery of Zimbabwe Visual Art Studios) and centred on Gallery Delta in the 1990s. The first Zimbabwean artist to enter into Rijksakademie, Makumbe established himself as the leading figurative painter of the younger generation in the country with a strong international following participating in exhibitions in South Africa, Brazil, Germany, South Korea as well as Zimbabwe, with support of Gallery Delta, Gallery 23 in Amsterdam and Kalk Bay Modern in Cape Town.
Born 1978 Harare, Zimbabwe
Lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe
Education and Training
1998 - 1999 - B.A.T Visual Art Studios under National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe.
2004 - 2005 - Rijksakademie Van Beeldend Kunsten, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Having displayed an early gift for drawing, Patrick Makumbe joined the wave of figurative painters such as Luis Meque, Ishmael Wilfred, Hillary Kashiri and George Churu and which emerged from the B.A.T. Workshop (now the National Gallery of Zimbabwe Visual Art Studios) and centred on Gallery Delta in the 1990s. The first Zimbabwean artist to enter into Rijksakademie, Makumbe established himself as the leading figurative painter of the younger generation in the country with a strong international following participating in exhibitions in South Africa, Brazil, Germany, South Korea as well as Zimbabwe, with support of Gallery Delta, Gallery 23 in Amsterdam and Kalk Bay Modern in Cape Town.
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