Fresh off its 68th anniversary, the National Gallery of Zimbabwe presents Backlash, an exhibition by renowned realist artist John Kotze.
The exhibition will take place in two phases; the first being his more familiar work of observation drawings, the majority of it having been executed from the commencement of the novel Coronavirus outbreak, and thereafter. The second body of work is a series of collage works; negotiating between portraiture, object and dreamscape; with each work chronologically annotating a particular event and condition from the earliest work to settlement.
The contrast (or perhaps compliment) between the two groups of work, forms the basis of the nomenclature of the body of work; within it emerges the diametric of consistency and growth, cooperating to the resultant exposition.
“Embracing contradiction, the works blend cubism, expressionism, and surrealism to reflect fractured identities” said Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa and F. Zvikomborero Mandangu, the co-curators of the exhibition. “They are an invitation to confront both cohesion and disarray, creating a dynamic interplay of emotion and perspective,” they concluded.
Born in Malawi, John has lived and worked in Zimbabwe since just after independence. His realist style finds its inspiration in the many commonplace scenes that often pass unnoticed through our lives. These might be objects arranged and displayed for sale or some scaffolding on a building site. To these scenes, John brings his particular eye to focus on what might pass us by in the daily rush that is urban life in southern Africa.
Backlash stands as a bridge between high technical formality and creative abstraction, with the ease of the artist’s shift between the two techniques providing guaranteed appeal to the viewer.
Backlash opened on Saturday the 9th of August, and runs until October.
