Trained as a printmaker at Artist Proof Studio in Johannesburg, Zimbabwean artist Raymond Fuyana (b. 1995) is a self-taught painter whose surrealist oil paintings reference his dream life and its liberatory potential.

Fuyana’s paintings are a fantastical, gravity-defying gateway to touring the world and bring it to a standstill. His multiple references to trees and water signifies the artist’s interest in the environment and the need to protect it.

As a deaf person, Raymond relocated to St Vincent School for the Deaf, Johannesburg, in 2009 in order to learn sign language. In his paintings, Raymond’s protagonist is often accompanied by an anthropomorphic emoji — the ‘picture character’ used ubiquitously in electronic messaging. The emoji is a marker for the artist’s own particular relationship to technology and the mobile phone, and its capacity to aid his communication.

Raymond participated in the Strauss & Co. Commission for the J.H Pierneef interpreted collection, and exhibited at Turbine Art Fair in 2017 and 2018, when he won 1st prize in the printmaking category in the Strauss & Co Irma Stern Still Life Competition. In 2021, Raymond was part of Guns & Rain’s annual Fresh Voices show. Raymond’s work has been shown at Art Joburg (2022) and as part of African Galleries Now (2022) on Artsy. Raymond’s work was also selected for a special Artsy campaign at public transport metro stations in NYC, Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco and Miami (April 2022).

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024
FNB Art Joburg, Guns & Rain, Johannesburg, South Africa
'Beyond the Board', Guns & Rain, Johannesburg, South Africa

2023
'A World Unheard', Duende Art Projects, Antwerp, Belgium
1-54 London, Guns & Rain Gallery, London, United Kingdom

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024
'A Very Loop Street Summer III', Cape Town, South Africa
'Strategic Interplay: African Art and Imagery in Black and White', Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, United States of America
'...as we see it', EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
'DECADE : 10 Years of Guns & Rain', Guns & Rain Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
'Selfies Part I', Schönfeld Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

2023
'Southern Summer Salon', Guns & Rain Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
'Room with a View', EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2022
FNB Art Joburg, Guns & Rain Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
African Galleries Now, African Art Galleries Association X Artsy (Online Presentation)

2021
'Those Summer Nights', Guns & Rain Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
'Fresh Voices', Guns & Rain Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
'Home Coming', RIT/NTID Dyer Arts Centre (Online Presentation)
Joburg Fringe @ The Art Room, Johannesburg, South Africa

2019
'Rise or Fall (Unknown Tomorrow)', Association of Arts Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
'After a Fair', The Art Room, Johannesburg, South Africa
Latitudes Art Fair, Artist Proof Studio, Johannesburg, South Africa

2018
Irma Stern original Still Life Competition, Strauss and Co., Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa
Edition Variable Graduate show, Artist Proof Studio, Johannesburg, South Africa

2017
J.H. Pierneef Original Works, Strauss and Co., Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa

COLLECTIONS

Amawal Collection, Spain
Africa First