Mike Munyaradzi (1967)

Mike was born on the 1st of Februaray 1967 at Tengenenge, Zimbabwe and is the only surviving son of the late master shona sculptor Henry Munyaradzi. Being the son of such a great sculptor, Mike had the chance on acquire all the education he needed. Mike was exposed to the world of sculpting when he was still a young boy, for he preferred to spend the days sitting beside Henry instead of being on his mother´s back. He remembers sitting next to his father and always wanted to work on the same stone Henry will be working on. Henry used to encourage Mike by finishing the sotnes Mike had stared and when the sculptures sell he will buy Mike sweets and toys. Mike used to sculpt small animals and birds which used to catch Henry´s eye, and Henry will put some finishing touches to the sculptures. Mike started working seriously with his father in 1980 during his seventh year in primary school. By then he was able to sculpt like his father by following the natural shape of the stone rather than destroying it. Mike would start a sculpture and Henry would till him where he had gone wrong until Mike ends up with an excellent piece of work. When he finished his secondary education Mike joined Old Mutual as a Computer Operations Shift Leader. In 1989 his father asked him to leave his full-time employment and do sculpture work on a full-time basis. He worked with Henry until 1992 when he went to study at Mancheser Metropolitan University in the UK. Mike graduated with a Btec HND in Computer Software Engineering. When he came back from UK in 1996 he was too bored to work with computers such that he carried on working with his father. Mike has vowed to carry on sculpting like his great father and he is now producing his own style which is different from Henry´s. Mike is now sculpting alongside Factor at Henry´s farm in Ruwa. When Mike is not sculpting he will be flying as a Commercial Pilot.

“The way I sculpt is a combined effort between the stone and myself. The stone presents to me a natural sculpture which I must expose into a form understood by everyone. I learnt from Henry that every natural shape of a stone is a sculpture in waiting, don´t fight with the stone work together with it and a beautiful sculpture comes out smoothly from the rock”

.Mike has works at Chapungu Sculpture Park, Stone Heritage, La Pierre Galleries inHarare, Sango Art gallery in Belgium, Gallery Sonda, World Art Foundation in Holland, The Hemingway African Gallery in New York, Handelsman Sculpture Park in Chicago, Galerie Shona in Hamburg/Germany

(Quelle/Source Text: by Mike Munyaradzi)

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Dr. Eckart Rohde
eckart-rohde@galerie-shona.org

+49-40-473443 oder
+49-177-5183524