Fidelis Joseph's painting practice fuses his life experiences in Nigeria and the U.S. Moving from figuration to abstraction, he evades straight-line narratives, focusing instead on complex impressions and emotions embedded in the human psyche. Uncanny figures emerge from landscapes of bright color blocks, transparent paint and bare canvas. His rapid and energetic brushstrokes bring palpable tension.
Fidelis Joseph (b.1989) is a recent studio fellow at NXTHVN after graduating from Cranbrook Academy of Art with an MFA in painting and winning the Cranbrook Museum Purchase prize in 2023. In 2017, he earned a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts and was awarded the Artist of the Year from the prestigious Zaria Art School, Nigeria. There, he notably gained recognition for his public art projects after co-creating a permanently displayed mural on the Campus. Before furthering his studies in the USA, Fidelis moved from Northern Nigeria to Lagos In 2018 to embrace the emerging art industry of the city and the opportunities afforded to artists.
Terrence Musekiwa emerges from a lineage steeped in the tradition of stone sculpture, an ancestral knowledge passed down through generations. This heritage finds its origin in the artistic legacy of his father, Kennedy Musekiwa, a testament to Zimbabwe's rich artistic tapestry spanning several centuries. Drawing upon deeply personal found objects, Musekiwa's creations serve as a direct continuum of the oral histories that have endured and adapted through centuries of turmoil. Informed by syncretism, a strategy of preservation and survival found within oral traditions, Musekiwa's work serves as a manifestation of this codification. He deftly merges and actualizes contemporary methodologies, philosophies, and materials, intertwining them with the profound wisdom accrued over generations past. In doing so, Musekiwa breathes life into his art, infusing it with an indomitable spirit and a profound resonance.
Terrence Musekiwa (b. 1990, Seke, Zimbabwe) Solo exhibitions include Coming From Where We Are Going (2019), Catinca Tabacaru New York; Pesvedzero Isingazivikanwe, Catinca Tabacaru, Bucharest; Influence of the Unknown, Triade Foundation, Art Encounters, Timișoara; Vashandi Vehurumende ("Government Workers"), Art Basel Hong Kong (Discoveries), presented by Catinca Tabacaru. In 2022 Musekiwa represented Zimbabwe in the 59th Venice Biennial, and was included in the 14th Dakar Biennale. His work has been acquired into the permanent collections of The National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Villa Datris Foundation
in France, and the US Department of State. In 2024 Musekiwa will have work included in the Villa Datris Foundation in France.