Undeterred by the closure of the Tate Modern on a wet grey Thursday afternoon, our group thirsty for culture had to look no further than gallery@oxo at Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street a few metres along the South Bank for our cultural thirst to be quenched, our spirits lifted and moods enlivened.
Warmly ushered out of the rain by a beautiful Zimbabwean lady, we were instantly thrown into a very lively talk by three leading Zimbabwean sculptors on their individualistic style and techniques. This was of course all helped along by our extremely energetic, enthusiastic and engaging Middle Eastern friend Osama who demanded all round introductions and “a lecture” in order to understand the works more fully.
Gedion Nyanhongo with great humour started his talk by introducing the very first living sculpture he had created, his beautiful daughter, the lady who had so warmly greeted us. Following bursts of laughter he then explained his family history, emanating from a family of illustrious sculptors from Nyanga he proudly then introduced his fellow exhibitors, his brother Collen Nyahnhongo and protégé Hilary Manuhwa.
Gedion Nyanhongo explained the importance of the stones he used, how they were all from mines he had visited and had a symbolic reference to his homeland and resonance with him as an artist. He then went on to explain the subject matter of his work –usually figurines that were in a typical African style, abstract rather than naturalistic and echoed the importance of family within traditional and modern African society. There were strong links to their African cultural heritage, demonstrating the high respect he paid to the role of elders, in particular the Aunt, the importance of protecting women and children as well as the essential role women played.
Gedion then moved on to discussing his technique, how he created the wondrous effect of the silky high polished black stone that he would then set a contrast to with key parts of the stone that were left unpolished for a surprisingly dramatic effect.
He pointed us to his sculpture of a mother and child pounding mill (arguably the star piece) – a scene he remembered well from his childhood, and explained how he created the highly polished finish through making those parts of the stone porous and then mixing in a wax into the process; the use of wax in the process would leave those parts of the stone with a silky smooth texture and extremely black in colour which would then contrast strongly with the light coloured rough stone that had been left untreated.
The mother’s dress was left un-waxed and although appeared rough to the eye was still soft to the touch as fabric would of course be (therefore some wax had been included in the process), and as if to subtly highlight the magnificence of the African dress (Zimbabwean African textiles also being a celebrated art form). The dress was a warm burnt orange colour with white flecks and marked with rippled indents alluding to beading, again leaving the viewer wanting to stroke the stone fabric.
Each of the sculptors used this contrasting technique of high polish set against the unpolished parts highlighting also the majesty of the natural stone, an important object in its own right.
The carvings showed the imaginative skill of the artist as they played with the rough and smooth parts of the stone, for example a highly polished abstract African woman with a pouting mouth clasping her breasts had a large Afro hairdo left in unfinished stone. Showing their ability to work in small and large objects, some of the sculptures were very large, such as the giant penguins lovingly snuggled up to one another and then the small and compact kissing birds that was completely polished and looked modernist more like a Brancusi than the more traditional looking figurative art works.
The artists style was curiously reminiscent of beautiful classical sculptures by Michelangelo and Rodin who too would show some of their figures bursting from the stone, the difference here being that the whole object was formed, so they were almost always three dimensional and only key parts (such as the fin of a dolphin or chest of a penguin were deliberately left unfinished.)
Captivated by these artists who generously explained their creative process we very slowly left the gallery and returned back to the dull grey London South Bank.
Leaving the gallery on much the same note as we had begun this wonderful introduction to Zimbabwean Sculpture, Osama unabashed asked if all the sculptures were for sale to which Gedion replied “yes”, and then much to all the Brits embarrassment Osama then asked “including your very first living sculpture?”….
To roars of laughter and guffaws we left the gallery feeling a sense that there was so much more to learn about these sculptors and their craft. This exhibition is worth a second visit.
I have since learnt that Gedion Nyanhongo was particularly modest, he had failed to mention that he had worked with the renowned late sculptor Joseph Ndandarika and his own art work is shown at the Chapungu Sculpture Gallery Park, alongside other living celebrated Zimbabwean sculptors. He is a celebrated talent. This exhibition is on until 10th June 2012 and is open from 11am until 6pm.