Beautiful, well carved abstract verdite (AKA Shona Stone) carving by renowned Zimbabwean artist: Eddie Masaya.
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Eddie was born in 1960, in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, in an area called Nyanga. He left school after completing Grade Seven and went to College for two years. In 1980, he joined his cousin, Moses Masaya, a well known artist, who taught him how to sculpt. After spending two years alongside Moses, Eddie moved to Guruve, North of Harare, to work with another well known artist, the late Brighton Sango.
It was within this environment that he discovered his own artistic expression. Eddie acknowledges the influence of First Generation sculptors, such as the late Nicholas Mukomberanwa and Joseph Ndandrika, on his work. His sculptures reveal a similar uninhibited feeling towards the stone. Deeply fascinated by it’s natural qualities, he is often guided by structural textures, flaws and resistance within each piece of stone to inspire his art. He says, “It’s like the stone commands you, and you then just follow it’s formation and bring out the piece as is desired”.
His work possesses a wonderful spiritual, modern quality which links him between the more traditional First Generation sculptors and the current younger generation.
Masaya’s sculpture has been exhibited internationally since the mid-Eighties and he continues to enjoy the new challenges that sculpting presents him. Stone Dynamics Gallery is proud to have promoted Eddie for over 20 years.