adminAt The Gallery
His Excellency, the President Cde Robert Mugabe once said of the then Zimbabwe Heritage Exhibition: “Yet it reflects and promotes the good name of Zimbabwe both within the continent and beyond.”
Such a strong statement from a great leader would define the greatness of Zimbabwean art the world over as at that time the Henry Munyaradzis and Nicholas Mukomberanwas of this nation were deemed magicians of the earth.
On the December 19 2014, the Heritage Exhibition opens under a new banner that is the Zimbabwe Annual Exhibition and will therein showcase the best and blooming artists from all around Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Annual Exhibition will pick up from where the Heritage Exhibition left off in 2002 by exposing the most substantial artworks that can identify with contemporary art on the global scene and this year the show will channel the diversity, ingenuity and creativity of Zimbabwean art.
The Zimbabwe Annual Exhibition is set to take place at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and judging from the response the artists made to the call, a massive 433 artworks were submitted from across the country and to the viewer, a deduction on the state of art in Zimbabwe could be made out to be either provincial and at times playing to the banal.
After a strenuous adjudication exercise the artworks were narrowed down to 91 pieces constituting mixed media, paintings and sculptures.
This exhibition is set to sharpen artist’s minds and on a greater level it is intended to strengthen the visual arts sub-sector as it serves as a platform at which members of the public, art lovers and collectors are invited to experience this exciting insight into Zimbabwe’s contemporary art scene.
The Zimbabwe Annual Exhibition identifies whether art is moving in a progressive or retrogressive direction whilst exposing new talent or even resuscitating careers,
It is a feast for the eyes where art transcends age, class and sex. The Zimbabwe Annual Exhibition presents art in its rawest form and for the sake of art.
New artwork from artists such as Richard Mudariki, Tafadzwa Gwetai, Leslie Johnson, Julius Mushambadope, Penelope Kirkman, Doris Kampira, Daryl Nero, Israel Israel and Gideon Gomo will be showcased at this event which seeks to re-engage the contemporary art scene in Zimbabwe.
It promises to be grand affair.
Online Reporter