Terrence Musekiwa: Standing on a line, not being on either side

Catinca Tabacaru New York is pleased to announce Zimbabwean artist Terrence Musekiwa’s first American solo show, Standing on the line, not being on either side. Musekiwa’s found-object assemblages feature the artist’s signature heads carved from stones. The exhibition will be open Oct 27 through Dec 3, 2017 with a reception for the artist Friday, Oct 27, 6-8 pm at 250 Broome St, New York.

The Shona people have been carving stone for over a thousand years. Terrence Musekiwa comes from a long lineage of this ancient tradition, himself shaping soap stones since the age of five, assisting his father to produce trinkets in animal form for tourists. Now 26 years old, the sculptor holds a degree from The School of The National Gallery of Zimbabwe, and recently completed the Tiroche DeLeon Residency in Tel Aviv.

Musekiwa lends power and motion to obsolete materials. With bare hands and simple tools – the hammer, the chisel, a saw – he gives life and humor to brooms, forks and helmets. He laboriously shapes stone, sometimes taking several months to finish one sculpture.

Twelve figures, each a foot or so tall, occupy the gallery’s floor, inviting viewers to join the movement. Their bodies are made of preformed plastic bottles, wire and an undefined mixture of earth and glue. Exquisitely sculpted heads give each figure a unique personality. On the gallery’s wall, two floating heads oversee the crowd. One wears police riot gear while the other points a slingshot.

Musekiwa exists on the margins of past and present, tradition and innovation, the physical world and the invisible spirits, order and disorder; between the discarded objects he finds in Harare’s infamous scrapyards, and the inherently political sculptures he transforms these into. “I am always trying to find balance between opposite forces – the place where opposites meet; the shape that meeting takes.”
The artist, who does not believe in History, but instead in its ability to be repeatedly rewritten, engages in a global discussion on the now – what now is and how now tends to reorganize what is here. History is an attempt to create order.
About the Artist:
Terrence Musekiwa (b. 1990 Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe) earned his arts degree from The School of The National Gallery of Zimbabwe in 2013 and has since been exhibited and acquired internationally, including the Tiroche DeLeon Collection, and most recently, Catinca Tabacaru’s Harare Gallery. He joined the Catinca Tabacaru Gallery program in 2015 after completing the gallery’s Art Residency Collaboration with Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions in Harare, Zimbabwe.
About the Gallery:
Catinca Tabacaru Gallery opened its first brick and mortar space on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in May 2014. Representing thirteen artists hailing from six continents, the Gallery takes a nuanced and empathetic approach to projects, gravitating towards art that impacts the self and society. It supports authenticity, fearlessness, and conscientiousness, championing work that celebrates the deepening of voices over time. Catinca Tabacaru Gallery also recently expanded, building a gallery space in Harare, Zimbabwe in order to promote and nurture the work of emerging African artists and create a space for dialogue with emerging artists in New York.