Gallery Delta: Home to cultural creativity

This finely curated show featured works by three well-established young artists, Masimba Hwati, Munyaradzi Mazarire, and Gareth Nya-ndoro. Also on display was an installation by the iconic artist Tapfuma Gutsa, recently retu-rned to Zimb-abwe after a lengthy visit to Europe.
Hwati, Maz-arire and Nyan-doro, as well as exhibiting in a number of local and regional galleries, have all exhibited ab-road.
A show wh-ich either intentionally or fortuitously exhibits the work of these artists combines the magic and mysticism of Hwati, the three dim-ensional skills of Mazarire and the creativity and humour of Nyandoro.
The work of all three reso-unds with basic cultural and traditional values, as vibrant in the 21st Century as in the days when lion roared in the grasslands surrounding Mbare and travellers lost their way in the dense Seke forest.
Despite his youthful looks and serene appearance, Masimba Hwati is unafraid to confront the adversities and evil forces that threaten our daily existence, whe-ther in the city or the rural areas. His installation, “Strong People Evolve”, is made from old shoes and terracotta.
A selection of footwear, ranging from elegant suede loafer to dainty sandal, to sports shoe and to a Bata tackie, is transformed into a gathering of interesting people, each with a story to tell. Chubby individuals have hand-stitched bodies, and above the heel of each shoe peers a carefully crafted ceramic head.
Hwati’s creations always exude tenacity and optimism, and whether he works with wood, leather, hessian, terracotta, paint or paper, his art is that of a perfectionist.
In pride of place above the fireplace at Gallery Delta hangs Munyaradzi Mazarire’s Ukama Igasva (Relationships are Not Enough). Three very different individuals, one black in colour, one beige and one pinko-grey, are comfortably seated together on a bench.
What does Mazarire perceive about the relationship of these three bench sitters? Are they casually passing the time of day in conversation or are they crowded together, waiting their turn in one of Harare’s interminable qu-eues? Although their faces are blank, we can almost see them breathe, and imagine their comments to one another.
Gareth Nyandoro’s Kond-emborari Afriken Maski displays the love of colour and joie de vivre that typifies the work of this successful young artist. A modern version of the sombre, slitty-eyed ebony masks of a different generation, this wide-eyed, rosy-cheeked exuberant personification will enhance the collection of any serious minded art lover.
An installation by honorary invited artist Tapfuma Gutsa is entitled “Gadgets of Influence” and combines the traditional African hwamanda with a reindeer horn from the northern hemisphere. Recently returned from a lengthy visit to Europe, Gutsa displays how a synthesis of ideas, in which each culture borrows from the other, can be enabling. He urges us to “Proceed and be bold!”
An impressive series of photographs of Tapfuma Gutsa, taken by Jonathan Greet, entitled “The London Suite” provides an anthropological journal of a black man’s journey to different parts of the world. With the wilds of Stratford in England as a background, Gutsa strikes the pose of a Samurai, but continues to wield the all-important hwamanda, whose powers are as great as the trumpet blasts that brought down the walls of Jericho.
This exhibition at Gallery Delta once again provides an opportunity for the public to encounter the latest developments in the art world, and to acquire beautiful and collectible works of art.