Gareth Nyandoro is noted for his large works on paper, which often spill out of their two-dimensional format and into installations that include paper scraps and objects found in the street markets of Harare, where he lives and works. The artist’s primary source of inspiration is the rapidly changing urban and cultural panorama of Zimbabwe. Inspired by his training as a printmaker, and derived from etching, the artist’s distinctive technique, 'Kucheka cheka', is named after the infinitive and present tense declinations of the Shona verb 'cheka', which means 'to cut'.
This, the artist’s first monograph, documents selected bodies of work created since 2015 and presented in exhibitions at venues including the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Quetzal Art Centre, Portugal, Tiwani Contemporary, London, Modern Art Oxford and the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam.
The publication features an introduction by curator Adélaïde Blanc, who curated Nyandoro’s 2017 solo exhibition 'Stall(s) of Fame' at the Palais de Tokyo. The publication also includes a newly commissioned essay from Cape Town-based writer, critic and editor Sean O’Toole, which discusses notions of ‘cutting’ and ‘spilling’ in Nyandoro’s practice against a backdrop of both Zimbabwe’s colonial past and ‘southern urbanism’ – city life in the global South.
Gareth Nyandoro was born in 1982 in Bikita, Zimbabwe. He lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe. Recent solo exhibitions include '…Read All About', Van Doren Waxter, New York (2018); 'Stall(s) of Fame', Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2017); 'Stall(s) of Fame', Tiwani Contemporary, London (2017). Selected group exhibitions include 'Par Amour du Jeu', Magasins Généraux, Paris (2018); 'Drawing Africa on the Map', Quetzal Art Centre, Portugal (2018); 'Five Bhobh – Painting at the End of an Era', Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town (2018); 'Kaleidoscope', Modern Art Oxford (2016) and 'Paper Cut', Tiwani Contemporary, London (2016). Nyandoro won the FT/Oppenheimer Funds Emerging Voices award in 2016 and was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, in 2014-15.
The publication, launched alongside a solo presentation of work by the artist at Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2019, is produced by Tiwani Contemporary with generous support from the A. G. Leventis Foundation, allowing for the production of artists’ books and their dissemination to libraries and institutions across the globe. Designed by Joe Gilmore, the publication is edited by Maria Varnava, Founding Director of Tiwani Contemporary, and Eva Langret, Artistic Director of Frieze London.
Gareth Nyandoro was born in 1982 in Bikita, Zimbabwe. He lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe.
SEAN O'TOOLE is the Director of Learning and Development for the Community Services arm of the NSW Department of Human Services. He has also worked as a journalist and as a designated detective with the Australian Federal Police. He recently completed post-graduate studies in organizational behavior at Harvard University. Sean is the author of four books on topics related to crime and criminology, including The History of Australian Corrections, and Corrections Criminology.
Adélaïde Blanc is curator and coordinator of artistic direction at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris), where she curated Gareth Nyandoro’s solo exhibition in 2017. She is co-curator of the 2019 Lyon Biennale.
Maria Varnava is founder and director of Tiwani Contemporary, London
Eva Langret is director of Tiwani Contemporary, London
