CHOTO

Moving to London with his family at age five but born in Harare,Zimbabwe in January,1995,Gabriel Tendai Choto is a contemporary artist who’s practice has evolved over the years.

Doodling at age five with little to mo idea on what art was really about,eventually got used to seeing and hearing about “white” artists and their works and this led to living with the misconception that one had to born in a certain era or had to be about forty years old to become an artist.

Finally getting the answers and motivation he needed to become an artist as a 17 years old “black kid” living in London was a rare time he sat flicking through channels and chanced on an art show “The African Masters” on Africa Chanel. This was an eye opening moment for him because he saw both young and old “black folks” like himself showcasing their unique art prowess and visual language in what was termed “contemporary arts”.

This led to his etching and printmaking process at age 19,gradually evolving and developing as an artist he decided to pursue art courses and started by getting his extended foundation diploma in art and design at Leeds Arts University. This period also served as a defining moment for him both personally and as an artist because he lost his grandfather a month to his graduation and in his memory he thought to do away with the style he was known for and rather paint his grandfather for his degree show and because he had just two weeks to present his work, he started off with printmaking,painted his grandfather’s head and after a long pause ,concluded the piece was better when left that way,just a painted head with lines.

To his surprise he had many people showing interest in his new style and body of work so he built upon it and came up with a series of works which had the same style and a similar approach.

He went back to school for his undergraduate degree from Camberwell College of Arts (BA Hons in fine art and drawing) then went on to get his masters in fine arts at Central Saint Martin’s University.

Amidst all these Choto has had quite a number of exhibitions and won some awesome art awards. He was selected for the Clyde & Co Art Award in 2018,was the winner of the Clifford Chance Printmaking Purchase Prize in 2019,participated in about 17 group exhibitions and had three solo exhibitions with his most recent one at Ada Contemporary Art Gallery in Accra,Ghana(April,2023) titled “DEEP,DEEP IN THE BELLY OF THE EARTH”.

Currently working on new series of works inspired by his relationship with his father,Choto seeks to highlight the positive aspects of life with his oil painted heads and faces instead of dwelling on the negatives in life which he represents with the lines in his works.

He strongly believes that come what may once you focus on the positive side or things,you’ll always find a way out of every situation.

He wants viewers to relate and be reminded of what it means to be human whenever they come across his works,in the sense that they’ll be able to connect with the emotions oozing out of the paintings.

In the next five years Choto sees himself wherever his works take him,as far as his works can go because to him allowing the works evolve on their own will mean they can go very far and reach a wider audience and once his works are at the top ,he’ll definitely be there as well.