Description
Gonçalo Mabunda was born in 1975 in Mozambique, in the city of Maputo. He is 6 months older than the country's Independence, and experienced the harsh reality of the civil war shortly thereafter, from 1977 to 1992. The commitment he undertook with art was crucial and inescapable from 1997 onwards: maintaining a systematic and consistent practice through the use of deactivated weapons, which earned him a strong authorial image. Gonçalo Mabunda, who claims to paint with iron, introduces us to a minefield and believes that we "shouldn't sleep when everything is fine", promoting awareness.
Works
2020, Maputo
deactivated munitions 131 x 120 x 71 cm
By incorporating deactivated weapons into his works, which are mostly made up of this "waste", Gonçalo Mabunda not only provides a strong visual impact but also creates a precise symbolic universe that enriches our understanding and encapsulates an unavoidable history of Mozambique.
2020, Maputo
deactivated munitions 132 x 166 x 17 cm
Despite incorporating violence into his artworks through the strength of weapons, even if deactivated, Gonçalo Mabunda gives them a scale of proximity, as well as clear axes of symmetry. In this "União" (Union), these characteristics stand out and lead us to a necessary discussion.
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Biography
1975 – Maputo, Mozambique
Visual Artist – Sculpture
Gonçalo Mabunda was born in Maputo in 1975 and has been solely dedicated to artistic creation since 1997. His brand image is based on the construction of sculptures with deactivated weapons which, although they may be large in size, are not monumental in character because they always require the viewer to relate to them, to merge with them in one way or another. So, masks can immediately be understood as items that cover our own faces and the armchairs, which look like thrones, making it easy to imagine that we can sit on them. There is a play and effect between what the artist shows in terms of everyday forms, well-crystallised symbols, later constructed through weaponry, albeit inoperative: referring, of course, to a past of war.
His works are visually elegant, following principles of symmetry, which automatically give a sense of balance. Gonçalo Mabunda takes us to a minefield, leading us through a sublimating violence. Or is it rather a reference to the violent world in which we are immersed? Although the answers are complex, his sculptures are clear entries into this contemporary discussion.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2019 – Goncalo Mabunda, Orator of time, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2018 – Game Of Thrones By Goncalo Mabunda, Akka Project, Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Transformations, Renaud Riley Gallery, Brussels, Belgium | Goncalo Mabunda, The Messenger, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2017 – Gonçalo Mabunda, Emperor of the Sands, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom | O Aceitador do Medo, Museum Abílio de Mattos e Silva, International Festival of Literature, Óbidos, Portugal
2016 – Goncalo Mabunda, Manuscripts, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom | Gonçalo Mabunda: Game of thrones, Galerie du passage de Pierre Passebon, Paris, France
2013 – Gonçalo Mabunda: When I get green, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2012 – Gonçalo Mabunda, New Works, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2011 – New Work, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2008 – My New Voice, Afronova Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2005 – Give Voice, Galleria d’Arte La Nuvola, Rome, Italy
2004 – Arms into Art, Alliance Française, Tanzania; Mauritius; Kenya; Ethiopia; South Africal; Burundi; Namibia; Uganda; Army Museum, Delft, Netherlands
2000 – An Artist, a Gesture, Maputo Art Centre, Mozambique
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2023 – 5th Gaia International Art Biennale, Portugal
2022 – African Identities, AKKA Project Venezia, Venice, Italy | Momentum Mozambique, Manoeuvre Gallery, Portugal | Manimalia, Manoeuvre Gallery, Portugal
2020 – Goncalo Mabunda At The Foundry, The Foundry, Downtown, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2019 – The Past the Present and the In-Between, Filipe Branquinho, Gonçalo Mabunda, Mauro Pinto, National Pavilion of Mozambique at the 58th International Art Exhibition, Biennale Arte 2019, Venice, Italy in collaboration with AKKA Project | Masquerada, AKKA Project Venice, Venice, Italy
2018 – L'Un et l'Autre, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2017 – A Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, United Kingdom | Gaia à travers ses miroirs, Villa des Arts, Rabat, Marrocos (for the event L'Afrique en Capitale) | E-Mois, MACAAL, Marrakech, Morocco | Devil in disguise, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom | Rassemblement, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2016 – Unter Waffen. Fire and Forget 2, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany | Lumières d'Afriques, Donwahi Foundation, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
2015 – Lumières d'Afrique, Chaillot Theater, Officielle-Fiac, Paris, France | All The World's Futures, Venice Biennale, Italy | Studio Lumiere, 10 Contemporary Artists Living & Working in Africa, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom | Le Pensuer, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2014 – Luminós City. Ordinary Joy: From the Pigozzi Contemporary African Art Collection, Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America | Ici l’Afrique/Here Africa - L’Afrique contemporaine à travers le regard de ses artistes, Musée des Suisses dans le Monde,Château de Penthes, Pregny-Chambésy, Switzerland
2011 – New Work, Jack Bell Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2010 – African Stories, Ancienne Banque du Maroc, Marrakech, Morocco
2008 – Second Lives, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, United States of America | My New Voice, Afronova Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2007 – Afronism, Afronova Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa | Brothers in arms, Maputo Art Centre, Mozambique
2005 – Give Voice, Galleria d’Arte La Nuvola, Rome, Italy
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2020, Maputo
deactivated munitions 131 x 120 x 71 cm