Exhibition at the Schütz Art Museum - Ben Tuge

"My art is a journey of self-discovery and healing. The creative process is a moment of transcendence in which I experience a deeper sense of fulfillment," says Ben Tuge, a sculptor originally from Zimbabwe, living in South Africa, born in 1969. "I want to stimulate discussions and a deeper connection with my viewers, encouraging them to explore different perspectives. The rough textures of my sculptures invite viewers to look at the work from various angles and gain new insights with each glance. My art is an invitation to pause, reflect, and look further." One should expect the unexpected and experience fragile manifestations of being. "I first model my work in my mind and envision the finished piece before I touch the wood. The process is meditative, a dance between creator and material. I enjoy the feeling of chiseling, shaping, and refining the wood, bringing forth the hidden beauty within." Tuge describes the creative process in a very personal, unvarnished, and straightforward manner. Wood is the starting point of his creations, his sculptures, his figures, oscillating between representational and abstraction. Wood as a starting point is also philosophically interesting in multiple ways. On one hand, wood is traditionally rooted in African art, in the centuries-old history of naive art on the African continent; on the other hand, wood is also a ritual and philosophical reference point to nature, to a philosophy of living in peace, in harmony with the universe, and in harmony with nature. The history of his people, his tribe, his country, and the stories from the traditional culture of the African continent—often referred to as "Terra Incognita" in our regions—populate and enrich his extensive oeuvre; analogous to the traditional naive art of the African continent, where larvae, wooden figures, ancestor pots, heads, masks, and grimaces represented testimonies of the spirit and the spirits—oscillating between totem and taboo. It is complicated carving art that reflects the vibrant spirit of Zimbabwean culture on one hand, and includes a global life on the other. Myths and legends of his people come alive in Ben Tuge's works. Many of his pieces gain another dimension through replication, cast in bronze. Naturally, the archaic nature of the worked, barren piece of wood is unmistakable, but when cast in bronze, the fragility exposed to weathering and vulnerability loses its finiteness and, not least due to the resilient and precious material, gains a new distinctiveness and a touch of infinity. "I first model my work in my mind. The process is meditative, a dance between creator and material. I enjoy the feeling of chiseling, shaping, and refining the wood, bringing forth the hidden beauty within." This is how one might describe the results marked by a special aura, an archaic charisma, a slightly estranged transcendence, to say the least, almost as if they are imbued with a spirit. In moments of transcendence, "monuments of transcendence" were created.

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