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ZimSculpt

Curators of Zimbabwean Sculpture Worldwide

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Joe Mutasa

Location: Harare

Works for Sale

  • Tribal Queen Price on application
    Tribal Queen
    Price on application

Previous Works

  • Ndebele Queen Not for sale
    Ndebele Queen
    Not for sale
  • Four Female Generations Not for sale
    Four Female Generations
    Not for sale
  • Brothers Not for sale
    Brothers
    Not for sale
  • Graceful Woman Not for sale
    Graceful Woman
    Not for sale
  • Beauty Queen Not for sale
    Beauty Queen
    Not for sale
  • Humble Woman Not for sale
    Humble Woman
    Not for sale
  • Maasai Warrior Not for sale
    Maasai Warrior
    Not for sale
  • Mother & Son Not for sale
    Mother & Son
    Not for sale
  • Newly Married Not for sale
    Newly Married
    Not for sale
  • Traditional Medicine Man Not for sale
    Traditional Medicine Man
    Not for sale
  • Mother & Son Not for sale
    Mother & Son
    Not for sale
  • African Queen Not for sale
    African Queen
    Not for sale
  • Maasai Not for sale
    Maasai
    Not for sale

Born in 1964 in Rusape, a small town in the North East of Zimbabwe, Mutasa maintains that he was born an artist. Art was always his favourite subject at school, he would be the one who was chosen to do the class maps and charts, and to this day his school still uses the charts he drew. After he completed school he enrolled in college to study Public Relations, a career he gave up when he decided to follow his mind and take up sculpting full time.

Mutasa’s older brother Gregory was working for a local company called African Art Promotions, he was carving Verdite busts and animals, generally known in Zimbabwe as fine art. It was through that Joe started to work in stone. Realistic heads and animals were to form the majority of Joe’s subject matter for the next four years, his medium being almost exclusively Verdite, the incredibly hard, brilliant green stone unique to Zimbabwe. The skill required to work in Verdite is not to be underestimated, as it is one of the most tough and demanding stones. His sound technical back ground is very obvious in his work today; he has the ability to dominate most stone, and he has assumed the position of master of his media. Mutasa, however, became bored with realism and increasingly more interested in the portrayal of a feeling or emotion from within. His desire to express what he felt finally caused him to stop working in Verdite and go in search of something new.

His quest lead him to Chapungu Sculpture Park, when in 1987 he began to work with a group of sculptors who had assembled there. This was before the Artist Residency Programme had been formally initiated, but since the conception of Chapungu there have always been sculptors working at the Park. Other members of the group included Colleen Madamombe, Agnes Nyanhongo, Locardia Ndandarika and Samson Kuvhenguhwa. It was Samson who inspired Mutasa to become more serious about the expression of one’s inner feelings, he also encouraged him to do his best, to not settle for lines not as strong as they could be, or forms which are not perfect. You could not find two stone sculptors whose styles are so different but the influence of Kuvhenguhwa is evident, his solid technical background and the guidance have combined to produce work of great technical skill.

Never revising anything he has done before, each new work from him is a surprise. The long elegant forms stretch almost into infinity and speak tenderly of the love inherent in a close family relationship. This subject of family relationships plays an important part in Mutasa’s work especially its role in the changing Shona society. As he says of his piece The Son-in-law’s Present, “Most young people today don’t want to pay their dues to their in-laws so you start to get broken families. With this piece I want to express the need for people to return to old values. It is a mother with the new jacket that was given to her by the son-in-law. She is happy.”

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ZimSculpt has brought the creations of Zimbabwean sculptors to major exhibitions in botanical gardens worldwide, where they have been accorded critical acclaim. The exhibit features more than 100 stone carvings arranged throughout the Garden.

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