'Proud Woman' is an original opal serpentine sculpture by the Zimbabwean artist Wellington Karuru. In the sculpture, the figure's head leans to one side, eyes closed, as if carefully listening to the viewer. The head of the figure is carved onto a wedge shape: the choice to depict the face off-center reminds of the later paintings of Pablo Picasso, and the tall and narrow form reminds of the stone sculptures of Amadeo Modigliani. As the viewer walks around the sculpture, they can see that Jemali has left parts of the figure as natural stone, allowing the rough-hewn texture to create an exquisite contrast of surface with the mesmerizing polish.
lemon opal stone (serpentine)
signed 'W. Karuru' along the base, on the reverse
12 x 4 x 5 inches, sculpture
0.5 x 5.88 x 5.88 inches, base
Overall excellent condition with no signs of wear
Born on August 17, 1976, Wellington Karuru is the first born to a family of five children and has two brothers and two sisters. As the first born child in a Zimbabwean family, many responsibilities were shouldered upon Wellington. Both his brothers, Gilbert and Esau, are also talented sculptors. He completed his primary and secondary education in Mashonaland West Province and was involved in almost every sporting activity at the school. After he graduated, he was employed at National Foods LTD where he worked as a machine operator for a period of four years and was later promoted to work as a sales clerk. In his free time he assisted some well known artists in sculpting, was able to learn much from them and soon thereafter started to develop his own talent and unique style. Inspired by such well known sculptors such as Gardener Sango and Garison Muchinjili, Wellington started sculpting small pieces for himself and soon found a buyer for his favorite piece titled ‘A Cry For Help’. From that day forward, he has never looked back. He eventually went to work with Garison Machinjili whose influence is clearly shown in his work. Some of his pieces have been chosen already for international exhibitions and galleries. Well established and internationally renowned artists like Joe Mutasa...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Wisconsin
