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Arts Correspondent

Contemporary visual artist Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude has taken a journey to self-reflection in his much anticipated first local solo exhibition since 2017.

Titled “Grey Spaces” the exhibition which opened at First Floor Gallery Harare recently reflects on Nyaude’s life with a dramatic new suite of major paintings and a unique installation project to reflect on being 33-years-old as an age demanding insight and wisdom, especially in the Covid-19 era.

Born in 1988 and raised in Mbare, Nyaude is one of the most successful of Zimbabwe’s younger generation of painters.

His dramatic and satirical paintings, based on visualisation of Shona proverbs and contemporary urban slang, defy characterisation shifting with restless energy between readily identifiable symbols, abstraction and surrealism.

While responding emotionally to the issues in his own environment, as a painter, Nyaude also puts himself in conversation with broad ideas about art and art history locally and internationally.

His works have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, with exhibitions in Shanghai, China, Berlin, London, San Francisco and New York, with works in the Smithsonian Museum of African Art in Washington, the Rubell Family Collection and Museum of Contemporary African Art al Maaden in Marrakech, among others.

Nyaude is one of the few Zimbabwean artists with international reputations, who have remained committed to exhibiting in Zimbabwe and sharing their work with local audiences as a priority.

“For me, audiences in Harare are my inspiration and my truth. Exhibiting around the world is fantastic, but I know that I can only truly be understood at home,’ said Nyaude.

First Floor Gallery marketing director Marcus Gora described the exhibition as something not to be missed.

“Grey Spaces” is an exhibition of exceptional quality from a major talent,” he said.

“It’s something not to be missed.”

First Floor Gallery is one if the leading contemporary artspaces in the region with spaces in Harare and Victoria Falls

It prides with having a number of celebrated emerging artists who have earned vast international                                                                                recognition.