Lot 20

Gakunju Kaigwa (Kenyan, born 1958) with Tapfuma Gutsa (Zimbabwean, born 1956)
Mami Wata, 2025
Signed ‘KAIGWA/GUTSA’ (left side of sculpture)
Cold cast marble in resin fibreglass
51 x 95 x 51 cm
KES 550,000 – 700,000
(US$) 4,300 – 5,500
Provenance: Direct from G. Kaigwa
Sold KES 692,660

Gakunju Kaigwa is an established Kenyan sculptor who has become known for his masterful handling of material, and his eloquent work in glass, steel, bronze, granite and marble.

Kaigwa graduated from Kenyatta University, Nairobi with a BEd in Fine Art. He received a scholarship in 1988 to go to Italy to study in Carrara, a town world-famous for its high quality marble stone. In 1993 he completed an MFA in Public Art from the University of Dundee. He was then accepted by the Apprenticeship Programme at the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture in New Jersey, where he worked in the foundry and learnt to cast metal.

Working in the USA for several years, and attending numerous international workshops, Kaigwa returned to Kenya in 2003 and took a studio at Kuona Trust Centre for Visual Arts from where he works on public and private commissions.

Tapfuma Gutsa began his career as a stone sculptor studying at the Driefontein Mission School in Zimbabwe, but he began to look more towards Zimbabwean indigenous art traditions. Gutsa began producing experimental works with wood, metal, bone and clay.
Gutsa became the first Zimbabwean recipient of a British Council award, enabling him to study at the City and Guilds School of Art, London in the early to mid-1980s, and then go on to establish an international career. With a strong passion for collaboration and teaching, Gutsa has mentored many emerging artists, across Africa and internationally. His workshops in collaboration with the Triangle Network are renowned. Gutsa eventually joined the National Gallery of Zimbabwe as Deputy Director.
Gutsa was invited to take part in the 44th Venice Biennale African Pavilion, a project curated by Grace Stanislaus and showed in the Zimbabwe National Pavilion of the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. Gutsa has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions locally and internationally including Harare, London, Cuba, New York and Germany, and Gutsa’s artworks are in collections worldwide.

NOTE
Gutsa and Kaigwa met in 2004 during a residency at Kuona Trust in Nairobi. During this time, the sculptors decided to collaborate on some pieces, including the original version of this lot, a carving in tuff stone. The present work is a resin version, produced in a limited edition of three.