Ausstellung im Schütz Art Museum - Ben Tuge

Schütz Art Museum proudly presents Ben Tuge (*Zimbabwe 1969)

"My art is a journey of self-discovery and healing. The creative process is a moment of transcendence where I experience a deeper sense of fulfillment," says Ben Tuge, a South African-based Zimbabwean-born sculptor born in 1969. "I want to stimulate discussion and a deeper connection with my viewers and encourage them to explore different perspectives. The rough textures of my sculptures invite viewers to look at the work from different angles and gain new insights with each glance. My art is an invitation to pause, reflect and look further." One expects the unexpected and experiences fragile manifestations of being. "I first model my work in my head and imagine the finished piece before I touch the wood. The process is meditative, a dance between creator and material. I enjoy the feeling of chiseling, shaping and refining the wood and bringing out the hidden beauty in it." This is how Tuge describes the creative process, very personally, unembellished and without embellishment.

Wood is the starting point for his creations, his sculptures, his figures, oscillating between figuration and abstraction. Wood as a starting point is also philosophically interesting in several respects. On the one hand, wood is traditionally rooted in African art, in the centuries-old history of naïve art on the African continent; on the other hand, wood is also a ritual and philosophical point of reference to nature, to a philosophy of living as humanity in peace, in harmony with the universe, in harmony with nature. The history of his people, his tribe, his country, and the stories from the traditional culture of the African continent - often "terra incognita" in our latitudes - populate and enrich his extensive oeuvre; analogous to the traditional naive art of the African continent, in which larvae, wooden figures, ancestral pots, heads, masks, grimaces represented testimonies of the spirit and the spirits - oscillating between totem and taboo.

It is intricate carving that reflects the living spirit of Zimbabwean culture on the one hand, and includes a global life on the other. The myths and legends of his people are brought back to life in Ben Tuge's works. Many of his works are given a further dimension by being reproduced and cast in bronze. The archaic nature of the worked, barren piece of wood is unmistakable, but when cast in bronze, the fragility exposed to weathering and vulnerability loses its finiteness and, not least due to the resilient and precious material, acquires a new distinctiveness and a note of infinity. "I first model my work in my head. The process is meditative, a dance between creator and material. I enjoy the feeling of chiseling, shaping and refining the wood and bringing out the hidden beauty in it." This is how one could describe the results, which are characterized by a special aura, an archaic charisma, a slightly alienating rapture, not to say animated. "Monuments to transcendence" were created in moments of transcendence.

Open:
Tue-Fri: 10:30-17.30
SA, SO and public holidays: 10:00-18 h
Nibelungenstraße 36, A-4090 Engelhartszell

Tel: +43 7717 20320
Mail: office@schuetzartmuseum.at
Web: www.schuetzartmuseum.at