Richard Jack was born in Harare, the son of a nurse and an architect. He furthered his art studies at Durban Art School from 1969 until 1973. He began his career as an artist in South Africa from 1975 exhibiting in Johannesburg. Returning to Harare in 1980 he held his first one man exhibition at Gallery Delta in 1981. Drawing, assembling, applying and carving images from the African environment, he sees his work as reflections of the changing, mirrored contrasts around.
The construction of Richard Jacks sculpture incorporate the media of stone, metal and wood.
This is dedicated by the necessity to express all aspects and variations of the human individual: man, family, sensitivity, futiveness are reflected in this dimension of form and involve a new integrity which has not been affected by destruction or violence.
Painting and sculpture, and the combination of the two, has always fascinated me. By combining various materials I see myself and things more clearly in this multi-faceted environment where everything becomes permeated by human thoughts, actions and imagination that vary.
Art is my expression, its sometimes social comment, sometimes dreams, some understand some dont want to
Africa
Continent of colour and contrast
An obsession with self-expression.
Balance forms: chaotic fields.
Sharing peace and the fruit.
Meshing minds
The artist pains and sculpts.
Thoughts
Dreams
Mixed emotions under a moonlit sky.
Patterns
Rurual and urban images
With wood
Stone, steel
Reeds
Pains.
And everyday
Changes, figures,
Still lifes
Contemporary cries of primitive spirits.
Richard Jack September 1994
There is the thought in Europe and a few other places that any valid art coming from Africa should necessarily be produced by blacks, the indigenous people of a predominantly black continent.
White artists involved with the African idiom find this hard to accept, and of course it is. It may well be in years to come, that the possible broader scope of white thinking allied to the African feel and theme could syntheses to form a contemporary African art favouring neither racial backgrounds nor colour.
Whatever the outcome, many white artists are inextricably involved with Africa and its people. One of them is Richard Jack.
John Deward, The Star, June 1979 (Johannesburg, S.A.)
Africa has become a strange jumble of ideas, using the old to throw light on the new, and the new throwing the old into shadow. But while everyting has not always been black and white, some of the cross-patches of light and shade have provided startling patterns for the observer. Richard Jack is an observer.
Andrew Whaley, The Herald August 1981 (Harare, Zimbabwe)
Biography
1949
Born in Harare, Zimbabwe. Educated in Harare and Durban.
1969-70
Natal Technical Art College Durban, studied graphic design and photography
1971-75
Worked in advertising agencies in Harare, London and Johannesburg
1975
Began painting and sculpting and also did freelance illustration and graphic design
Exhibitions
1977
Chris Crake Gallery, Johannesburg Group Show
1978
Walsh Marais Gallery, Durban One Man Show Trevor Coleman Gallery Johannesburg One Man Show
1979
Akis Gallery Johannesburg One Man Show
1979-80
Opened Marico Moon Gallery, Johannesburg
1980
Durban Arts 80 outdoor sculpture
1981
Market Gallery Johannesburg One Man Show
Artists from Zimbabwe Trevor Coleman Gallery
Delta Gallery Harare Two Man Exhibition
Delta Gallery Harare Group Show
Weldart National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ)
24 Annual NGZ
1982
Delta Gallery Harare Group Show
Nedlaw Sculpture Exhibition NGZ
Helen de Leeuw Gallery Johannesburg One Man Show
Mall Gallery London Group Exhibition
1983
Nedlaw Sculpture Exhibition NGZ 2nd Prize
Weldart NGZ
John Boyne Gallery Harare One Man Show
Zimbabwean-Mozambique Solidarity Exhibition, Maputo
1984
International Art Fair Barbican Centre London Group Show
The Rt Hon. Lord and Lady Walston Picaddily Residence
John Boyne Gallery Harare Group Show
1985
Nedlaw Sculpture Exhibition NGZ
Delta Gallery Harare Group Show
1986
Delta Gallery Harare Group Show
Annual Baringa/Nedlaw NGZ
ZAVACAD Anti-apartheid Exhibition Murewa Cultural Centre
John Boyne Gallery Harare Group Show
1987
Annual Baringa/Nedlaw NGZ
Delta Gallery Harare Group Show
1988
Pachipamwe workshop Exhibition NGZ
Annual Baringa/Nedlaw NGZ
1989
1990
Annual Baringa/Nedlaw NGZ
Le Forum, Harare Group Show
2nd Pachipamwe workshop Exhibition NGZ
Delta Gallery Contemporary wood sculpture
Delta Gallery Group Show
1991
Johnson & Fletcher Wood sculpture NGZ
4th Pachipamwe workshop Exhibition NGZ
Le Forum, Harare The New Generation
Annual Zimbabwe Hertiage NGZ
Thapong Workshop Exhibition National Gallery of Botswana
4th Biennial Havana Cuba
1992
10 Sculptures Contemporians du Zimbabwe Paris
National Gallery of Zimbabwe solo show. Sandros Gallery, Harare two man show.
1993
Alva Aalto Museum, Jyvaskyla, Finland 6th Graphica Creaativa. Gallery Delta exhibition with Matti Wasskilampi from Finland.
1994
Gallery Delta Solo Show.
1995
SANAA National Museum of Contemporary Art, Norway. Contemporary art from East and Southern Africa. First SA Biennale, Johannesburg, South Africa. 6th All Africa Games, Harare Mural in granite for torch base.
1996
Alva Aalto Museum 7th Graphica Creativa. Jyvaskyla, Finland. Remisen Brande, Denmark International Artists Workshop.
1997
Gallery Delta solo show. Royal Museum of Central Africa Tervuren, Belgium Legacies of Stone, Zimbabwe past and present.
1998
Gallery Delta graphics. Contemporary sculpture of Zimbabwe Espace Artsenal, Paris. Commissioned sculpture Aage Damgaard, Herning, Denmark.
1999
Quenington Sculpture Trust Fresh Air 1999. Cuxhaven Art Centre Artist in Residence. Commission for Cuxhaven Schlossgarten. Wawana Gallery, Maastricht. Zimbabwe German Society workshop and exhibition (NGZ). Annual Heritage Exhibition (NGZ), 1982-1999.
2000
Gallery Delta Millennium exhibition. Gallery Delta Post Election Selection.
2001
Gallery Delta Thoughts, solo show. Quenington Sculpture Trust Fresh Air 2001.
2002
Wawana Gallery, Maastricht Thoughts in Form, solo show. Gallery Delta, Harare Group sculpture exhibition.
2003
October Gallery, London Africa Informs, four contemporary African Artists. Quenington Sculpture Trust Fresh Air 2003. Gallery 27, Cork Street, London Artists for Zimbabwe.
2004
StArt Fair, Strasbourg. Gallerie dAmes dAfrique, Strasbourg.
2005
Alan Kluckow Gallery Juxtaposition. Quenington Sculpture Trust Fresh Air 2005. Musee des Arts Deniers, Paris Group exhibition. Surrey Open Studios, Farnham.
2007
Hockey Gallery UCCA Technique.
2008
Hockey Gallery UCCA Technique The Lightbox, Woking.
2009
Hockey Gallery UCA Technique Quenington Sculpture Trust Fresh Air 2009
CATALOGUES THAT COME WITH PURCHASE:
Graphics, Paintings, Sculptures, Gallery Delta, Zimbabwe 1989
Sculptures & Murals by Richard Jack, The National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) 1992
Two Directions with Three Mediums, Gallery Delta, Zimbabwe 1994