Dominic Benhura
(Born 1968, Zimbabwe)
“My work
celebrates the simple joys in life. I have five children. I get a lot of
inspiration from them. All over the world, on a daily basis, children behave in
similar ways and play the same games. My sculptures are universal. I don’t put
facial features on the people. They could be from the South, the North, the
East or the West.”
- Dominic
Benhura, Sculptor
BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1968 in the
small Zimbabwean town of Murewa, Dominic Benhura has become one of Africa’s
greatest contributions to the world of contemporary art. As one of the world’s most accomplished sculptors,
Benhura has developed a timeless and universal contemporary style that captures
in stone the essence of human movement, form and emotion.
Benhura began
sculpting at the age of 13 under the guidance of his internationally acclaimed
sculpting cousin, Tapfuma Gutsa. A
standout student and self-professed workaholic, Benhura showed incredible
promise and artistic vision during his early period, often blending stone and
metal to create some of the most unique work ever produced in Zimbabwe. In recent years, Benhura’s work is almost
exclusively devoted to the human form.
He derives endless inspiration from his five young children. After sketching forms and movement that capture
his eye, Benhura searches for the perfect stones that will help bring these
images to life. Once his artistic
inspiration takes control of the stone, Benhura is known to work through the
night for days on end to create his masterpieces.
Working primarily in
the hardest Zimbabwean Springstone, Benhura uses traditional hand tools to
sculpt and shape the stone. He often leaves large portions of his sculptures
“raw” revealing the stone’s natural texture and beauty. Unlike most artists who rely on carved facial
features to express emotion, Benhura is able to express incredible emotion and
movement without sculpting any defining facial features on his pieces. He relies on motion, posture and negative
space to make his deceptively “simple” pieces come to life.
A legend in Zimbabwe,
Benhura has not let fame and wealth cloud his perspective on life. He is the most admired sculptor in Zimbabwe by his
peers and his expansive studio is home to some of the finest young talent in
the country. Well traveled and exhibited, Benhura has become a permanent
fixture on the international art scene.
Benhura has carefully chosen only a few elite international galleries
where he features his work. Steadfast
promotion and rigorous personal appearance schedules in Europe and America have
enabled him to establish common international pricing standards for his highly
sought after sculpture.
Benhura has personally
exhibited his work in Hamburg, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Singapore,
Auckland, Cape Town,
New York, Atlanta,
Denver, Santa Fe
and Miami. In 2002, he staged a highly acclaimed show in
the Hamptons,
where he was named “Best Of The Best.” He also staged his largest one-man show
to date at Zuva Gallery in Scottsdale.
That year, Benhura was also presented a “Lifetime Achievement” award from the
National Arts Council of Zimbabwe. In 2003, Benhura made major presentations of
his work to Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, and
to Stephen Lewis, the United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Most recently, at an international competition,
Benhura was awarded a commission by the FMO Development Bank in The Hague. Benhura was
inspired by the theme of the competition, which was to design a work of art
that bridges the gap between the first- and the third-world. The sculpture,
titled “Communicating Worlds” stands 16 feet tall and weighs 5,000 pounds. A
smaller version of the sculpture was presented to Princess Maxima and now
stands in the private collection of the Dutch Royal Family. In 2006, Benhura
was honored with a commission for the United Nations, a sculpture titled
“Peace”. He also designed the Red Ribbon Awards for the International AIDS
Conference, held in Toronto,
and the ZIMA Award, for the Zimbabwe Music Association annual music award. The
2006 Zuva Gallery World AIDS Day Benefit Exhibition for the Dominic Benhura Library was Benhura’s largest show
to date and generated over $17,000 for the library in Zimbabwe.
Zuva Gallery is the
premier venue in the United
States for Benhura’s top work. For the past several years, Zuva Gallery has
exhibited and placed more of Benhura’s work in important public and private
collections than any gallery in the world.
Zuva Gallery has established a lasting friendship with Benhura, and each
year, the gallery owner and director spend extended periods with Benhura at his
home in Zimbabwe, working with him to prepare for annual exhibitions in the
United States.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND AWARDS
1986-8 – John Boyne House and Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
1989 – Pachipamwe International Workshop, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
1990 – Millesgarten Museum, Sweden
1990 – Yorkshire Sculpture Park, England
1992 – Expo 1992, Seville, Spain
1992-4 – Sculpture in
the Park, Loveland, Colorado, USA
1992 – Steinskulpturen
aus Zimbabwe, Dusseldorf, Germany
1992 – Bank Sparkase, Wuppertal, Germany
1992 – Sculpture
Exhibition, Helsinki, Finland
1992 – Galarie Im
Schlossgarten, Gaungeloch, Germany
1993-6 – Annual Resident Artist Exhibition, Chapungu Sculpture
Park, Harare
1993-6 – Annual Heritage Exhibition, National
Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare
1994-5 – International
Workshop, Stone Gallery, Holland
1994 – The Second Generation, Millfield
School Somerset, United Kingdom
1995 – Workshop Westafalenpark Dortmund, Germany
1995-6 – Moderne Africanishe Kunst Die
Steinbildhauer Aus Zimbabwe, Germany
1996 – Solo Exhibition, Stone Gallery, Holland
1997 – Solo
Exhibition, Alden Biesen, Belgium
1999 – Melbourne Flower Show, Melbourne, Australia
2000 – Solo
Exhibition, Hannover, Germany
2001 – Solo
Exhibition, Zuva Gallery, Scottsdale
2001 – Cornell Museum,
Delray Beach, Florida
2001-2 – Hampton Classic, Bridgehampton,
New York
2002 – Munhumutapa
Gallery, Cape Town
2002 – Solo
Exhibition, Zuva Gallery, Scottsdale,
Arizona
2002 – Desert Botanical Gardens,
Phoenix, Arizona
2002 – Lifetime Achievement Award, National Arts
Council of Zimbabwe
2003 – Rice Lake
Show, Toronto, Canada
2003
– Nelson Mandela Foundation, Johannesburg
2004 – Winner, FMO Development Bank Commission, The Hague, Netherlands
2004 – Berlin Botanical Gardens, Berlin, Germany
2004 – Johannes Larsen
Museum, Kerteminde, Denmark
2005 – Solo
Exhibition, Zuva Gallery, Scottsdale
2006 – Arts
Personality of the Year, National Arts Council of Zimbabwe
2006 – Commissioned
sculpture titled “Peace”, United Nations
2006 – Solo
Exhibition, African Millennium, London
2006 – Permanent
Collection, Open University,
United Kingdom
2006 – Designed Red
Ribbon Awards, Intl. AIDS Conference, Toronto
2006 – Kyung Am
Sculpture Park and Museum, South Korea
2006 – World AIDS Day
Benefit Exhibition, Zuva Gallery, Scottsdale
2007 – “Creatures of The Earth” Solo
Exhibition Commemorating 50th Anniversary, National Gallery of
Zimbabwe, Harare
2007 – University
of British Columbia, Vancouver
2008 – Creatures of the Earth: Solo Exhibition, Zuva Gallery, Scottsdale
2008 – My World “Mugariro” Solo Exhibition, Hortus Botanicus, University of Leiden,
Leiden, Netherlands
2008 – Solo Exhibition, Sissman Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
2009 – “Dominic Benhura;
African Stone Sculpture”, Arizona Museum for Youth, Mesa, Arizona
2009 – “Small Works”, Solo Exhibition, Zuva Gallery
