Lovemore Kambudzi : Happiness
Past exhibition
The Kyo Noir Studio presents the exhibition Happiness by Zimbabwean artist Lovemore Kambudzi curated by Antonella Pisilli. Lovemore Kambudzi is known to many in Zimbabwe as "The People's Eye," for his unapologetic realist analysis of African daily life he has studied the great masters of the past and has developed a variation of Seurat's pointillism, or "tachisme," creating a unique style of painting. The shower of skillfully assembled blobs make up the figures in his paintings, creating very striking effects of light and color. His brushstrokes are reminiscent of mimetic colors, but the artist's conceptual intentions are all to be discovered; perspective is altered to detect a transformation of the figure that downplays the technique and themes. He calls his intent "Handingavanze chokwadi," which means, "I cannot hide the truth." Lovemore Kambudzi's canvases are usually large in size and show the crowded life in the city, the everyday life reveals the various situations of suffering or humiliation to which the people are subjected in certain circumstances, a social reflection of the troubled political and social life of Zimbabwe, the artist, however, does not forget to tell with subtle irony paradoxical and humorous situations even in difficult situations. "The Other Africa" proposed in the Happiness exhibition sees with a more disenchanted eye African daily life described for the occasion in an effectively lighthearted manner. Real situations in contemporary Zimbabwe do not escape his attention, and as a faithful, inspired and critical chronicler of everyday African reality, he immortalizes them on canvas that seem to belong to the tradition of the Flemish painter Bruegel. Lovemore Kambudzi was born in Harare in 1978 where he lives and works. An artist since childhood, he began his artistic training as early as the age of three, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts at the National Gallery in Mbare, and a few years later began a long and fruitful collaboration with the Delta Gallery in Harare where he received further training and one where he began to exhibit with a waxing assiduity. He has exhibited in Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2003 he won a Commonwealth Scholarship and left for New Zealand. He currently lives with his wife and family in Harare and enjoys growing public and critical acclaim, both within his troubled country and internationally.