‘I’m hoping they land somewhere between a poetics of non-disclosure and what-you-see-is-what-you-get’, to quote the artist. And with that sentiment one must attempt to reach some kind of non-settling, formless cohesion in their encounter with Motsi’s latest series of oils on linen which appear uncannily like giant-sized squares of nut-studded chocolate. There is a deceptiveness in the apparent simplicity of these works, hiding in plain sight the fact that they are the distillation of a multitude of references and metaphors. Art historically they deal in the Renaissance techniques of brunaille underpainting and trompe l’œil. Conceptually, they depart from Édouard Glissant’s notion of ‘..the right to opacity for everyone. I no longer have to ‘understand’ the other, that is, to reduce him to the model of my own transparency, in order to live with this other or to build something with him...’ (Culture and Identity in Introduction to a poetics of diversity, 1996).

Shaun Motsi (b. 1989, Harare) is a visual artist based between Berlin and Brussels. Motsi’s work has recently been presented at MMK, Frankfurt am Main (2025), Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, (2024), Auto Italia, London (2023); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2023); Freiburg Biennial, Freiburg (2023); Goethe Institut Paris, Paris (2022); Shedhalle, Zürich (2020); Portikus, Frankfurt am Main (2020); and 3HD Festival, Berlin (2019); and elsewhere.