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Talent Chimutambgi

Arts Reporter

South-African based visual artist Tinotenda Mabasa has said preparations for his solo art exhibition are at an advanced stage, with all artefacts lined up ready for the show.

The show, organised by Red Giraffe Gallery, is expected to kick off early next month in Cape Town.

In an interview with The Herald Arts, Mabasa said the show would be a window of opportunity to explore new avenues in his career.

“What I can say is that I’m now ready for the show with all the art works lined up ready for display,” he said. “The show has been long in the making, but was failing to kick off due to various reasons, chief among them the advent of Covid-19.

“This solo art exhibition will be a huge opportunity for me to open new avenues to advance my profession.”

Mabasa said such opportunities were scarce, adding that he believed he was expecting more doors.

“It’s very rare for an artist to have such an amazing opportunity around here in Cape Town, so I believe it’s going to open more doors locally as well as internationally,” he said.

The show will be held together with the launch of a fashion brand.

“So, brand launch will be on the 13th of December, it’s going to be private house pool party strictly.

“There is going to be models showcasing their talents and that night it’s going to be recorded for our signature movie scene.

“At the same time I’m launching ‘Mushroom Kingdom’ fashion brand, but I will be doing deliveries locally and also customers will be able to purchase the goods online on the Mabasa Online Gallery platform.”

He said the artworks on sale would be a full package.

“The artworks will be for sale, as an artist I need a solo show to break through in the industry, so this is high time for the world to receive a full fresh package from me.”

Mabasa’s last exhibition was held at Hale Market, which was significant to him in terms of marketing of his artefacts.

“My last exhibition at Hale’s Market is still on display,” he said.

“My main focus right now is on my solo show. Since it’s something big in my life, I had to shift all the focus to that on the other side. I’m also up and about putting things together for my fashion brand launch.

“My wish is to host at least two to three solo shows in a year, so I believe this first show will put me in a good position to be able to fulfil my goals.”

Mabasa, who is now into fashion design, is looking forward to working with university students.

“I will be working with university students as my models and audience for the fashion launch since those are my daily customers,” he said.

“I’ve got more than 10 big paintings, roughly 6×6 metres in size. I have small ones as well.”