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Stephen Garan’anga’s sculptures are complex compositions of found objects which are neither cleaned up nor painted, largely making up figurative sculptures. His sculptures stem more from the idea of new ways of seeing and respecting metal, and his notion of the retention of the character and identity of the original found object.
We are compelled to look at these objects in a new way, part of a vehicle remain as a female torso, a nail as an eye gorged out from the socket. Yet the original appearance of the object remains, and we are fascinated by the material reality of the sculpture. Some of the sculptures are constructed from carefully chosen found objects, creating the balance, the equipoise of his functional sculptures. Other sculptures are made of gloriously indiscriminate found objects and we are amazed to see how they formally come together in sculpture.
Some of Stephen’s paintings are gestural and textural, they may derive loosely from the abstract expressionism of the past. In the paintings there are massive build ups of texture, colour overlaid on colour.
The paintings depict both the African past and present. In one of the paintings titled ‘The hut that built the city’ outlines of girders and cranes create the contours of an urban landscape, perhaps that of Harare. Below, little creatures like ants hurry along roadways. In the far corner of the painting is a pole and dagga house, with a thatched roof. A wavy red line joins the girders and the cranes to the house. This line represents the distance between the origins and present day life of the painter. In some paintings we see into windows and look at tables and chairs and the soft lights of the way people live.
In others we look out of windows and see the distance and space which is the Zimbabwean landscape.
Half way between the paintings and the sculptures are mixed media artworks incorporating blank boards on which are affixed bones, beads, toothbrushes and tubes of tooth paste.
It is a matter of “change and decay now”. In two hundred years people will dig up our lives and what will they find? These things and more.
It is death which brings about history. It is the ageing process as much as man’s destruction which destroys a civilisation. ‘Shanduko’ (Changes), a current multi-media solo art exhibition by Garan’anga at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Mutare is yet another of his astounding exhibitions with superior display of original creativity with mastery understanding of his materials.
For years he has demonstrated undivided dedication and passion important attributes for his success at home and internationally.
This exhibition explores some of the various changes he has embraced in his life as well as the nation of Zimbabwe. Stephen is an active observer whose work spells out time when one considers how urban art has evolved in Zimbabwe and especially what one may call the Harare school.
As an artist Stephen is as versatile as he is prolific, tackling different media in very specific ways as though he could carry on in any direction, yet at the same time the relationship between his narrative urban compositions as presented in his graphics and painting is often masterfully interpreted into three dimensional works, “Model” and “Mai Vanoshanda”, “Kamwenje Kanopfuta” and “Dancer” are such good examples. It is this synergy that brings his pieces on this show into one body of work.
His sculptures go beyond the found objects classification; they may as well qualify for, appropriated objects. While mis-appropriation has become the order of contemporary art and thought, being considered a new art genre, in Stephen’s work we are compelled to believe that all these industrial elements he uses were indeed designed for his use. He re-defines the forms of his found objects giving them new meaning as they become indisputable human organs, body parts and apparel.
His redefinitions are as though to remind us that there is hope in every situation for as long as we can define and redefine for ourselves the situation at hand. His understanding of form, movement and gesture is pleasingly defined in his sculptures, which I believe carries the totality of his philosophy of “Shanduko”.
The urban feel in Stephen’s work is indeed a necessity in pegging the evolution of contemporary art in Zimbabwe; his flexibility in all genres that define Zimbabwean contemporary with such excellence makes him a remarkable artist.
Online Reporter