56 HENRY, in collaboration with First Floor Gallery Harare, presents paintings by Zimbabwean artist Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude. Born and raised in Mbare, located north of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, Nyaude mines the vitality of young Zimbabwean men and is inspired by the brushy and distorted paintings of Francis Bacon as much as the palette and energy of his home town. His work references the rich idioms and proverbs of the Shona language, which is spoken by a majority of Zimbabweans.

Nyaude’s dreamlike scenes have the composition of still lives, but radiate movement and energy. His portraits of tiny humanoid figures hone in on individual mythology, centering a character rather than a tableau. Rife with symbolism, these works speak in code. Motifs recur throughout the presentation: crowns, sneakers, teeth, and chairs are present in differing measures in each of the works. Teeth reference the Shona proverb “Zino irema rinosekerera warisingade,” (A tooth [smile] is a deceiver, it smiles even at the one it doesn’t like). Chairs become symbols of leadership and authority, thrones that comment on the fractured and evolving state of Zimbabwean politics. Male bodies contort and morph, often truncated at the limbs or lacking facial features.

Nyaude presents avenues into the work, but intentionally obscures and encrypts the political messaging in his paintings due to the sensitivity of Zimbabwean politics. His defiant and energetic brushstrokes and a bold color palette act as a call to action. Military camouflage and playful renderings of Basquiat’s famous crown symbol reference the West both politically and art historically. Nyaude maintains a distinctly African voice. He says “I want to start conversations with my people about issues that affect us in Africa. I don’t want to create work that’s reporting to the West about how we live but to allow my people to resolve these issues.”