Epheas Maposa: Smiles of Clay

31 PROJECT presents the first solo exhibition at the gallery of the Zimbabwean artist Epheas Maposa, with a selection of canvas recent and unpublished.With Smiles of clay, Epheas Maposa speaks of the fluidity of beings, of these stories which are repeated in an often absurd sometimes nightmarish where the bodies struggle, struggle, stand still and then relaunch.In Smiles of Clay, it's the same man where the same woman we follow from canvas to the other. It's the story of a frozen smile, like sketched, similar to a molded impression in clay. ABOUT THE ARTIST Epheas Maposa was born in 1994 in Zimbabwe.He lives and works in Harare.The body and the story are central to Epheas' work: half-human, half-animal bodies, with very marked lines, evolving in surrealist and baroque style. Each work delivers a narration on the wire, mixing in a dreamlike vein , drawn details and colourist patterns.Prolific narrator, he uses body distortion and spaces to create disillusioned tales testifying to the decay of the social structure and political situation in Zimbabwe. Epheas Maposa is self-taught.The street, his first source of inspiration, he then joined Village Unhu in 2013 where he was able to benefit from spaces and materials to work and develop his practice alongside other artists of the collective. In 2014 he exhibited at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, as well as the Delta Gallery. He participated in 2017, 2018 and 2020 in the FNB Joburg and Investec Cape Town Art Fair. He also took part in several residency programs between Johannesburg and Harare. In 2019, he received the second prize for Emerging painting pan African Art Prize. In 2020 and 2021, the gallery 31 PROJECT presents his work at Art Paris Art Fair and 1-54 Paris - Christie’s. 31project.com