Moses was an acclaimed first-generation sculptor, an early student of Joram Mariga’s in 1957 and worked alongside him for two years.
During the years from 1970 to 1974 Moses worked with his contemporaries Manyandure, Gwichiri andChakanyuka at Frank McEwen’s Bvukuthiwa outdoor studio in Nyanga.
His art is rich in imagery, symbolism and traditional socio-religious morals. He sculpts elongated evocative heads with stylised angular features to portray feelings and experiences common to mankind: ‘Mother & Child’, husband, wife and sibling love, or family bonding, are the themes he depicted.
Some of his more mythical stylised stone heads have hypnotic eye expresssions – which give the sculpture an innate and spirtual force of its own. He also explored bird life and fauna in an unmistakable style.
However, the core concern of his sculpture was to give reverence and acknowledgement to his ancestral beliefs and heritage – by creating forms from Shona ontology.
His work reached its peak in the mid 80’s, with overwhelming demand for his sculpture from the US, Germany, Belgium, Paris, Sweden, Denmark and the UK.
Exhibitions:
WORKS SELECTED for the Annual Exhibition of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe: 1968, 1970, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1988.
TWO PERSON EXHIBITION (with Norbert Shamuyarira): 1988: Standard Chartered Gallery, John Boyne House, Harare.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
1971: Sculpture Contemporaine des Shonas d’Afrique, Muse Rodin, Paris;
1975: South African Association of Arts Gallery, Johannesburg, and NSIA Gallery, Durban;
1981: Retrospective Exhibition of Shona Sculpture Zimbabwe House, London;
1985: Contemporary Stone Sculpture from Zimbabwe, Irving Sculpture Gallery, Sydney (in association with The Gallery Shona Sculpture, Harare);
1986: Soul in Stone, Irving Sculpture Gallery, Sydney (in association with The Gallery Shona Sculpture, Harare);
1988: Contemporary Stone Sculpture from Zimbabwe, Barbican Centre, London;
1990/9 1: Contemporary Stone Carvings from Zimbabwe, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, U.K.;
1990: Stone Sculpture from Zimbabwe, Millesgarden Museum, Stockholm, Sweden.
Other PUBLIC and PRIVATE COLLECTIONS in which WORKS REPRESENTED:
Private collections inside and outside Zimbabwe.