Contemporary Fine Art @ The Piper Art Bar

My name is Sam Mabeu and I was born in Chinhoi, Zimbabwe in 1977. I grew up in Harare / Tafara, where there are enormous art movements. At a very early age I started drawing and crafting at school. In 1992 I decided to pursue my ambition. I got the opportunity to work for a year with Amos Supuni who was a famous sculptor in Tafara. I insisted on avoiding the elements of my mentor, and that was a major breakthrough. To find out that I was apparently born with a special talent was a great discovery. IMG_3801 Kopie 2 1999 was the most challenging year when I was chosen to participate in the Chapungu Residency Artist Program. My experience from working at the Chapungu Sculpture Park in Harare nurtured and developed my talent. There I met and worked with world renowned sculptors and I was encouraged to work with larger stones. Interacting with these artists gave me the confidence I needed. I had to show my creative abilities to the absolute maximum. Fortunately my own unique style made it easy for me to be recognized among the other artists. I am mostly inspired by nature and also believe that every stone has its own spirit and that it's my task to reveal it. Some of my sculptures have traces of rawness to show appreciation for nature and therefore they have a combination of natural and finely polished surfaces. Nature forms and all I do is to diversify or modify. I prefer to use harder stones such as verdite, lepidolite, springstone etc. and I will always take the challenging harder stones which I think gives a higher quality of the finished pieces. When I feel inspired I will take a block of stone and visualize the right form. I start chipping away the excess and the reminding piece is "coded" with a form. I express my ideas and emotions through vibrant and unlimited ideas. It's a combination of decision, action and imaginations, and the perception doesn't always immediately liberate the image at a deeper level. There is a fundamental relationship within the guiding forces - the visible and invisible. For me sculpturing is like riding a big wave, you never know where it takes you. History plays an important part in my works. It's a day to day socio-economic living and uniqueness is my belief, not the repetition for commercial gains. Sometimes the vision blurs and is difficult to recapture and therefore my modification and diversification is balanced by the ancient and contemporary art form.