PORTIA ZVAVAHERA – I’M WITH YOU
2017-07-24Indigenous and imported printmaking techniques have an important historical presence in the region and play a major role in Zvavahera’s work. In addition to the artist’s expressionistic brushstroke, Zvavahera employs a sophisticated multi layered process using oil based printer’s ink, oil bar and incorporating collagraph blockprints into the painting process to build intricate patterns across and within her forms. References and influences from Klimt, Schiele, Munch, and Bacon to textile patterns popular in Harare fashion magazines can be seen in the patterned fields of voluminous clouds of traditional garments enveloping the bodies.
Zvavahera’s work is deeply personal, and dreams are integral to her creative practice in combination with women’s roles, bodies and issues and reflections of personal relationships. The work is firmly located in Zvavahera’s region, culture, and political and economic concerns; however, her sophisticated and bold aesthetic connects the work universally in an undeniably powerful way.
Opposite – Gara Neni (Stay with Me), 2017
Exhibition runs through to July 29th, 2017
Marc Foxx
6150 Wilshire Boulevard
CA 90048
Los Angeles
