adminwire and stone which are his prime media of expression has made him one of the most original and sought-after mid-career Zimbabwean artists of his generation.
He has since developed a distinct signature style. His work has an elongated, sinuous line of Jugenstil, Art Nouveau and Stile Liberty as referred to in Italy — a style characterised by linearity and an asymmetry of long flowing organic structures.
Alberto Wachi’s current works are comprised of a linear biomorphism, with ridged tubular forms and references to the human anatomy, conceived and suspended in the vertical. He creates visual poetic references to organic growth, and movement suggestive of nature and organic processes. There are echoes of Arp, and Brancusi’s style reduced to an almost essential Afrocentric mystical purity. Plants become human limbs, tree roots become snakes and bow and arrows become harps and zithers.
As a visualiser Wachi analyses and draws on a bi-associative vision to create his witty anatomical re- compositions of human, and plant forms. He uses visual puns of shape to articulate his vision. A re-arrangement and play on feet, limbs and heads, reconstructed to resemble plant and re-imagined amoebic forms characterise his works of Art.
He says: “My work is inspired by an old ancestral calling. I come from a long heritage of indigenous weapon and instrument makers, citing cross-bows (huta nemiseve), bows and arrows, walking sticks and knobkerries as some of the weapons made by my grandfathers.”
Born in March 1975, Wachi expressed an interest in art at a very early age. He started drawing of his own volition while still in junior school and excelled in craft work of every medium presented to him as a young boy at Tsinhirano Primary School in Tafara. Later on, while still a young student at Mabvuku High School 2 at the age of 11 he presented his first works of stone art to Gallery Delta in the Old Manica Road.
Upon completing a three-year-long apprenticeship with Tapfuma Gutsa at Utonga Studios, 1989-1991, the then young novice settled to assume his role as an independent visual artist.
Wachi, who is an environmentally conscious artist, says: “I am inspired by trees — the shape of their branches and what they suggest to the viewer. It is the natural curvature and shape of the branches that directs my inspiration. Although I use wood as a preferred media — it is not necessary for one to cut down whole trees for carving — never do I cut a tree — only one curved young branch off a single tree is sufficient for my work. It is a covenant I have made with nature. Mutemo wangu!”
The themes of his famous signature works include “Snakes of the Earth”, “A Song of Freedom”, “Guitar Torsos” and his numerous images of seeds, growth, fertility figures, indigenous weaponry, avian and amphibious forms, as well as his visual ideas on the dualism of life and philosophy.
Following a spate of receiving complimentary awards and commendations of merit for his work from the early 1990s to 2010, Wachi’s works are now in selected collections on the five continents.
In 2010, he won the first Certificate of Excellence at the annual German-instigated, Kristin Diehl-Zimbabwe sculpture competition. Previously he won an Award of Merit at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in 1993.
In1992, his work “Whistling Woman”, was awarded a Highly Commended Certificate, and in 1999 he was presented with an international and regional honour for his works at the Mbile International Artists Workshop in Lusaka, Zambia.
In 2002, he was awarded First Prize for Young Sculptors Certificate of Excellence at the Kristine Diehl art competition. His works are in the collections of Kristin Diehl, Pereira Pinon, Peter Banga, Dr Michelina Andreucci collector and director of Springstone Art Gallery and Cultural Foundation, Virginia Penny, DDF Offices Zimbabwe, Aude and Sieglinde, Farai Mupfunya of the Culture Fund, Mona Bubal Collection, Goethe Institute, The Mbira Centre, the Zimbabwe Olympic Trust and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe Collection.
He was also nominated for a joint commissioned mural at NSSA/Stanbic Bank Building, on Second Street and Julius Nyerere Way, which he undertook a joint collaborative art commission together with veteran artists Arthur Azevedo and Helen Lieros when he was only 26 years of age.
Wachi’s works are also represented in collections in Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Holland, Brazil, Portugal, Ireland, Peru and New Zealand, Australia, Canada, US, Dubai, Kenya, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
Now an internationally recognised artist, in his own right, time is overdue for a comprehensive national solo oeuvre of Alberto Wachi’s fascinating artwork.
Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD. in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA (Doctorate of Business Administration) in Post-Colonial Heritage Studies. He is a writer, musician, art critic, practising artist and corporate image consultant.
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