Biography
Born in 1953 in Masvingo, Zimbabwe, Joseph Muzondo was taught to carve stones as a youth by his uncle. Following Zimbabwe’s Independence struggle, he was the first to join the reformed B.A.T Workshop. From 1982, turning his back on the established forms of stone sculpture common ‘in his country, Joseph developed a unique and very personal style that often combined separately-carved stone pieces and other elements into a single work. His work strongly influenced many of the leading established stone sculptors in the country. In 1983 Joseph studied and taught in Tanzania and attended the International Summer Academy in Salzburg, Austria. Joseph Muzondo’s unique work is described by the Director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe Doreen Sibanda.
Muzondo shuns the softer colored stones used by most of his contemporaries and instead uses the hardest spring stones that challenge even the most proficient sculptors. While Muzondo’s sculptures retain their monumental presences as solid volumes, their surfaces are enhanced by his explorations of light and shade within his material. Preferring to exploit the rich features of his material, Muzondo works deep into the stone to reveal its inner nature. The deeper you go, the darker it becomes,” he observes. Muzondo’s strategy of exploiting what lies beneath the material’s surface is appropriate to his preferred genre: the portrait. While his works all have abstract titles and while the forms themselves are decidedly abstracted, they are also quite clearly portraits. As such they straddle this boundary between traditional commemorative portrait busts and modernist expressionist portrait renderings. The sculptures also refer to masks- quintessentially associated with African art. Muzondo recognizes that a mask can be both a disguise and a likeness, that it can both conceal and protest the one who wears it. “`Whenever I am, I study human beings”, the artist says, “”then transform them into masks.”
Devoid of the popular imagery associated with ” Shona Sculpture” his work is derived from the process of “direct carving”. With this artist, the incidental shapes of nature and the conceived imagery are resolved in a fusion of geometric simplifications. His subject matter is eclectic, drawn from rural, urban, and internal experiences. The theme of reconciliation, be it political, ideological, or matrimonial, is also explored for its universal appeal. Angular profiles, organic forms, texture, and graphic surface detail gives his work distant signatory style. As an artist who takes pride in original ideas and individualistic approach, he says” “My work is not Shona or European Art – it is Muzondo Sculpture”. Most of today’s Zimbabwean sculptors only repeat and struggle to extend the work of their forbearers. Joseph Muzondo stands apart from all of his contemporaries and, has become his country’s leading spokesperson for the evolution and refinement of this art form.
In addition to the sculpting stone from his African earth, Muzondo also creates two-dimensional printing making, painting, and texture design. Joseph won awards for a stone sculpture and graphics throughout the 1980s and 90s. His works have been exhibited in solo and group shows in the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Australia, the United States, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. His work has been included in several European and African publications, his piece ‘War Victim’ (1982) was used on a commemorative stamp in Mr. Muzondo’s works have been purchased for the Permanent Collection of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and by private collections in Australia, Italy, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Finland, and the USA.
Solo Exhibitions
1982: African Center, London, United Kingdom
1983: International Summer Academy, Salzburg, Austria
1988: Dronning Lund Are Exhibition Center A frican Exhibition, Denmark
1989: Art Imagines in Southern A frica, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden
1990: Contemporary Stone Carving from Zimbabwe, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK
1991: Artist Against Apartheid Exhibition, London, UK
1992: Expo ’92, Seville, Spain; Happy Christmas A frica, Savanah Gallery, London, UK
1993: Contemporary Print Maker Exhibition, Coventry Gallery, UK
1993: Shave Artist’s Workshop Open Studios, Somerset, London, UK
1994: Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture: The Second Generation, Millfield School, UK
1994: Sande’s Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe
1994: Modern African Art: The Stone Sculpture of Zimbabwe, Westfalen Park, Dortmund,
Germany
1995: The Second Generation, Galarie in Schoissgarten, Gauangelioh, Germany
1995: National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Annual exhibition of contemporary visual art of
Zimbabwe
1995: Africus Johannesburg Biennale Exhibition, South Africa
1996: Modern African Art: The Stone Sculpture of Zimbabwe, Botainsche Garten, Berlin,
Germany
1997: Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture, National Botanical Institute, Kirstenbosch, Cape Town, Sout
Africa
1997: Sculpture from Zimbabwe, Melboure, Australia
998: Coming of Age, Zeitgenossische Kunst aus Zimbabwe, Aschaffenburg, Germans
1998: Chapungu Sculpture from Zimbabwe, Botanischer Garten Der Universitat, Hamburg
Germany
2001: Chapungu Custom and Legend: Culture Stone, Missouri Botanical Gardens, Missouri,
USA
2002: Chapungu Custom and Legend: Culture in Stone, Red Butte Garden, University S Utah,
Salt Lake, USA
2003: Chapungu Custom and Legend: Culture in Stone, The Chicago Botanic Garden, Garfield
Conservatory, Chicago, USA
2003: Zeitgenossische Stein Skukuren aus Zimbabwe ‘Hope Exhibition’ Diez, Germany
2006: Graficka Gnippen, Visby, Sweden
Group Exhibitions
1995: Gosta Werner Musset Simrishamn, Sweden
1995: Singapore Contemporary Sculptor from Zimbabwe
1996: Modern A frican Art Stone Sculpture of Zimbabwe, Botanischer Garden, Berlin, Germany
1997: Fort Canning Park; Singapore
1997: Raese Gallery, New York, USA
1997: Totem Gallery, Mutupo, Zimbabwe
1997: Mordan Africa Art stone sculpture of Zimbabwe, Messepark, Munich, Germany
1997: Gallery Im Scholssgarten, Gauangrlloh, Germany
1997: Group Exhibition, Austria
2000: Custom and Legend: A Culture in Stone, Royal Botanic Garden Kew, London, UK
2008, 2009, 2010 The Artists of Tait Modern Studios, Art in the Garden, South Africa
2010: UNISA Art Gallery, Resurrection Exhibition, Pretoria, South Africa
2011: Art Alive Exhibition, Pretoria, South Africa
2012 & 2013: Art Lovers 1932 Annual Miniature Exhibition of Painting, Drawing, Etchings
Mixed Media and Sculpture, Pretoria, South Africa
2013: Front Room Gallery, Earth and Sky Exhibition, Pretoria, South Africa
2013: Manor Gallery, Black Like Us 8 and 9 Exhibitions, Johannesburg, South Africa
2013: South Shore Art Center Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture Exhibition Cohasset, Massachusetts
USA
2013, 2014, 2015: Art Lovers 1932 Gallery, Annual Miniature Exhibition, Pretoria, South Africa
2017: Johann van Heerden’s Arta and Gallery Printmakers Exhibition, Pretoria, South
Africa
2017: Mooiklo, Pretoria, South Africa
Awards
1986: Nedlaw Annual Exhibition for the “Nuclear Bomb Catastrophe,” Harare, Zimbabwe
1986: Nedlaw Annual Exhibition for the “Pains of Oppression,” Harare, Zimbabwe
1988: Zimbabwe Heritage Exhibition for “Man and Wives” (Graphics), Harare, Zimbabwe
1993: Nedlaw Annual Exhibition for the “The Refugee,” Harare, Zimbabwe
1994: “Best ScuIpture of the Year” A.M.E A ward, Harare, Zimbabwe
1995: Zimbabwe Heritage Exhibition: Waiting Patiently (Award of Merit in Art, Media &
Entertainment)
1996: Beelden of de Berg Foundation Zimbabwe Heritage A ward of Distinction, Wageningen,
The Netherlands
1996: Anglo American Award of Distinction for Sculpture (Zimbabwe Heritage)
Workshops
1990: Pachipamwe III International Artists Workshop (14 days), Marondera, Zimbabwe
1991: Pachipamwe IV International Artists Workshop (14 days), Marondera, Zimbabwe
1992: National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bruce Onobrakpeya Print Making Workshop (14 days)
1992: Arts Foundation Print Making Workshop (4 weeks), Johannesburg, South Africa
1992: National Gallery of Zimbabwe, British Council Woodcut Workshop (14 days) Shave Artist’ Workshop Open Studio (2 weeks), Shave Farm, Somersel, UK
1993: Shave Red Bronze Workshop, ceramic shell casting (1 week), Shave Farm, Somerset, UK
1995: International Professional Workshop II, Arts Faculty (12 days), Pretoria, South Africa
2006: Grafiska Gruppen Studio in Visby. printmaking workshop in etching. engraving,
woodcuts, and calligraphic (2 months)
2008-2011: Talt Modern Studio, under the direction of Mimi van der Merwe, workshops in
etching, engraving, woodcuts, collagraph, monotypes, linocuts, and painting (3 years)
