Born in 1964 in Rusape, a small town in the North East ofZimbabwe, Mutasa maintains that he was born an artist. Art was alwayshis favourite subject at school, he would be the one who was chosento do the class maps and charts, and to this day his school stilluses the charts he drew. After he completed school he enrolled incollege to study Public Relations, a career he gave up when hedecided to follow his mind and take up sculpting full time.

 

Mutasa's older brother Gregory was working for a local companycalled African Art Promotions, he was carving Verdite busts andanimals, generally known in Zimbabwe as fine art. It was through thatJoe started to work in stone. Realistic heads and animals were toform the majority of Joe's subject matter for the next four years,his medium being almost exclusively Verdite, the incredibly hard,brilliant green stone unique to Zimbabwe. The skill required to workin Verdite is not to be underestimated, as it is one of the mosttough and demanding stones. His sound technical back ground is veryobvious in his work today; he has the ability to dominate most stone,and he has assumed the position of master of his media. Mutasa ,however, became bored with realism and increasingly more interestedin the portrayal of a feeling or emotion from within. His desire toexpress what he felt finally caused him to stop working in Verditeand go in search of something new.

 

His quest lead him to Chapungu Sculpture Park, when in 1987 hebegan to work with a group of sculptors who had assembled there. Thiswas before the Artist Residency Programme had been formallyinitiated, but since the conception of Chapungu there have alwaysbeen sculptors working at the Park. Other members of the groupincluded Colleen Madamombe, Agnes Nyanhongo, Locardia Ndandarika andSamson Kuvhenguhwa. It was Samson who inspired Mutasa to become moreserious about the expression of one's inner feelings, he alsoencouraged him to do his best,to not settle for lines not as strongas they could be, or forms which are not perfect. You could not findtwo stone sculptors whose styles are so different but the influenceof Kuvhenguhwa is evident, his solid technical background and theguidance have combined to produce work of great technical skill.

 

Mutasa has received much support from Chapungu during his careerand is now into his second year as a resident at the Park. Neverrevising anything he has done before, each new work from him is asurprise, the most notable of recent months is Sisters in Harmony.The long elegant forms stretch almost into infinity and speaktenderly of the love inherent in a close family relationship. Thissubject of family relationships plays an important part in Mutasa'swork especially its role in the changing Shona society. As he says ofhis piece The Son-in-law's Present, "Most young people today don'twant to pay their dues to their in-laws so you start to get brokenfamilies. With this piece I want to express the need for people toreturn to old values. It is a mother with the new jacket that wasgiven to her by the son-in-law. She is happy."