A travelling early career retrospective of paintings drawn from private and corporate collections by Zimbabwean born visual artist Richard Mudariki titled Mutara Wenguva Timeline is being hosted in South Africa with the support of the Sanlam Art Collection. The second opening of this exhibition opens on Thursday 21 September 2017, a day before the grand public opening of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, in Cape Town. This follows a successful showing in Sandton, Johannesburg from 22 July 2017.
Mutara Wenguva are Shona words that in a literal English translation means line of time, which in the context of this overview of Mudarikis practice from 1999 to present , is loosely translated as Timeline. This exhibition will give a unique opportunity to assess the development of Mudarikis painting over time and to view new paintings produced exclusively for this exhibition. The exhibition is curated by Stefan Hundt, curator of Sanlam Art Collection and Head of the Sanlam Art Advisory Service and will be officially opened by Executive Chairman of Strauss and Co, Frank Kilbourn .
Representative of a growing impetus towards figuration and social comment in African painting, Mudarikis works have been avidly collected in South Africa and has started to attract attention in the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. In 2016, Richard was a resident artist at Fountainhead in Miami, USA and in 2018 he returns to America, this time in New York for an eight months residency.
Curator of African Art at Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, Ugochukwu Smooth C. Nzewi has said of Mudariki:
[he] can be described as a painters painter who has come of age on his own terms. His work shows a deep understanding of the demands of painting and the symbolism of narratives in addressing the human condition. He offers astute and searing insights on critical issues in Zimbabwe, South Africa and farther afield. In his modernist paintings, we track political satires and gallow humour that capture how Africa, to a large extent, has remained a dream deferred.
Art Review Magazine South Africas correspondent Matthew Blackman concurs and notes that:
Richard Mudariki art stands counter-intuitively both at the centre and the fringes of Southern African contemporary art in particular and its world practice in general. In one manner it is at odds with certain trends that are pervasive within what the South African academy deems to be the core concerns of contemporary art a modernist approach to painting or the deeply personalized gallery-based unveiling of identity politics and protest. Indeed his position within South Africas art world is a peculiar one.
Mudariki was born in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe and started his practice at a very young age and by his teens his interest in making art led him to make contact with artists and teachers in Harare. He was astutely advised and he has succeeded in building a career in art ever since. His immigration to South Africa in 2010 provided him with opportunities and support to launch a full time career in painting. He exhibits regularly in Cape Town and is showcased at art fairs in South Africa, United States and Europe.
