About:
Chaisana.
Lovemore Kambudzi was born in the housing development area of Seke in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1978. An artist from childhood, he went through the three-year art training, at the Visual Arts studios of the National Gallery in Mbare before beginning a long and fruitful association with Gallery Delta in Harare where he received training and exhibition space. He has exhibited in Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States. In 2003 he left for Commonwealth scholarship to New Zealand, since then he has lived with his wife and family in Harare enjoying increasing critical success both inside his troubled country and internationally.
IPWA.
Known to many in Zimbabwe as “The eye of the People”, Lovemore Kambudzi has a unique style of painting, in effect a variant of Seurat’s pointillism, or tachism (developed without any knowledge of Seurat’s work). The application of diverse and contrasting large daubs of colour play across the forms of his cartoonist like draughtsmanship. His brush strokes are reminiscent of camouflage colours, but the artist’s intentions are rather to uncover. He says: “Handingavanze chokwadi” (I can’t hide the truth).
Struggle Continues.
Lovemore Kambudzi’s canvases are usually large and show crowded city life with both everyday life and different situations of suffering or humiliation – ever present touches of humour even in the worst conditions, not withstanding. We find his people queuing for fuel, stealing maize bags from a capsized truck, policemen beating their citizens. Few situations in contemporary Zimbabwe escape his attention and as such he belongs to the tradition of Breughel as faithful and inspired chronicler and critic of everyday reality in Africa.
Supper After The Night watch.
Courtesy: Ed Cross Fine Arts.