Stone sculptures that bring art to life, on at the FNCC

Artist Alpheus Mvula who works mainly with stone, white marble, granite, soapstone and serpentine has an current exhibition titled “The Tonzo’ which will run until 8 June at FNCC

The Tonzo focuses mainly on the main body part of a human being, which makes it very important in three-dimensional studies and it improves the artist’s visual, creativity and critical thing and expression by analysing the body of both female and male.

Mvula depicts what he sees in the stone, and with that combines his imagination and spends time working around the stone until he sees an image. The stone medium is very important to him as it gives him a connection and identifies a unique style by analysing the stone and images he sees and attempting to bring those out.

The exhibition will allow the audience to see the artist bring out what the stone itself shows, as Mvula only sculpts what he sees and does not use a sketchbook as the stones themselves are his sketchbook.

According to the artist, the white marble and other stones connect to each other as well as the colour of the gallery, which gives harmony to all works in this exhibition. “The contrast of the space and artwork also contribute to the successful display of the black and white sculpture bases, and grey and white sculptures next to each other,” he added.

Mvula said tools contribute to the accomplishment of all works in this exhibition done with a hammer and chisel and no power tools where used.

Furthermore, Mvula appreciates working with stone as it allows him to explore technique and to bring out the positive outline of the figure in contrast to the natural surface of stone and allows him to create texture and effect.