Zimbabwe native Kudzanai-Violet Hwami’s engrossing work explores gender, spirituality, and differing cultures. Currently based in London, she crafts paintings that also implement pastels, charcoal, and other materials. Her work has been shown at the Royal Scottish Academy, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Shonibare Studios in London, and beyond.
“Hwami’s bright, irreverent oil paintings design scenes belonging to a futuristic vision of African life, a fictional utopia filled with creativity and without borders,” the artist says. “Her work is a celebration of Afro-punk, LGBTQ, and internet sub-cultures, shot through with witty political commentary. Having lived in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK, she is able to expertly articulate issues around diaspora, displacement and identity, forging universal narratives with an autobiographical touch.”
Last year, the artist received the Clyde & Co Art Award and Cass Art Materials Grant, as well as the Young Achiever of the Year at the Zimbabwean International Women’s Awards.
Examining masculinity and power, Scott Scheidly’s paintings re-contextualize real and fictional villains. Elsewhere in Scheidly’s practice, he injects the grotesque into floral motifs, further underscoring the painter’s knack for satire and subverting expectations. The artist’s humor is also evident in his short bio: “At age four I attempted my first art project by devouring a 10 pack of crayons thus turning my diaper into a Jackson Pollock.”
In the way a funhouse mirror warps the mundane into the absurd, Brazilian artist