GODFREY KUTUTWA
Biography |
| Godfrey Kututwa was born in 1967 in Nyanga, the eastern highland of Zimbabwe. Through a mere coincidence he got the possibility to be trained in stone sculpting by Claud Nyanhongo, one of the first generation artists, and father to Agnes and Marian Nyanhongo. After training he started out on his own. Soon his works were recognized by the galleries of Harare, and he was represented as an artist on a professional level that gained him international presence. Several times his collectors invited him to Europe, to lead seminars and participate in exhibitions. In 2004 he was among the founders of Friends Forever securing him and his sculptor colleagues a presence on the international art market. Godfrey is from birth almost completely deaf; therefore his sculptures carry a special function for him: “I speak through my sculptures to the world.” He attempts to apply his art as a direct means of expression for his feelings, opinions and values. All his depictions are characterized by a fragile, self-absorbed aura conferring a harmony onto the viewer. He consistently portrays his human figures with calmly closed eyes that endow them with a devout virtue. His creations are solely concentrated onto themselves shielding out their environment. The viewers are merely granted access to this inner dialogue; they stay excluded from the on-going process. In addition, the artist often sides his protagonists with guarding animal spirits that accompany and support them in their emotionality. Often they are portrayed cheek to cheek cuddled up together; thereby Godfrey transgresses a simple feeling of closeness and creates a hardly separable unit of emotional human soul and soothing animal companion. In his sculptures divergent feelings become equal in value, as the artist defines them all as sensual withdrawn feelings purposely abandoning any kind of valuation. He succeeds on a high level in applying his art as a means of communication to convey his feelings, visions, dreams and thoughts to the world. |
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