Page 76 - Zimbabwe Stone Sculpure 1st Edition

ZIMBABWE STONE SCULPTURE
“You cannot view his sculpture without being touched and captivated by the emotion that is expressed.
His striking poses and facial countenances tell a story.”
GLADMAN ZINYEKA
An artist who left us far too young was Gladman. He was born in Gutu in 1962 and died in 2000. He was separated from his family at an early age during Zimbabwe’s liberation war between 1965 and 1979. Following the country’s Independence in 1980 he moved to Chitungwiza near Harare. He joined a community of sculptors and learnt to carve with them. In 1986 he was introduced to artist Samson Kuvhengurwa. With Samson he discovered the means of expressing his remarkable creative energy.
In 1987 he started working with Stone Dynamics Gallery after I saw his work at Sam’s studio. I was the first to promote him and feel he was perhaps one of the most impressive artists whom I discovered and worked with until his unfortunate death. His work was bought from our gallery by, among others, Morgan Freeman and Danny Glover.
In the early 1990s he bought a house in the southern suburbs of Harare and set up his studio there. He loved sculpting and his output was huge. His main themes were what he called “everyday life” and he loved doing pieces of the poor and suffering. He wanted to highlight their plight through his work. You cannot view his sculpture without being touched and captivated by the emotion that is expressed. Their striking poses and facial countenances tell a story.
I miss Gladman because, like other artists such as Zachariah Njobo, we started in this field together and we knew each other well. I believe if he had been with us longer his sculpture would be compared to artists like Munyaradzi and Mukomberanwa.
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