Contemporary Ghanaian artist El Anatsui has become a leading figure in the art world. His monumental works made from recycled materials testify to his unique talent and ability to transform everyday objects into artistic masterpieces.
Born in Ghana and now based in Nigeria, El Anatsui is considered by many to be the figurehead of contemporary African sculpture. His wall pieces are composed of found materials, usually aluminum spirit bottle caps, which he crushes, shapes, drills and painstakingly assembles with copper wire.
El Anatsui describes himself as a sculptor, but his meticulous orchestration of materials evokes the work of a painter or master upholsterer. His work is firmly rooted in traditional African culture (woven kente from Ghana), Western art (mosaics, tapestries, Gustav Klimt paintings) and contemporary life (alcohol consumption, consumerism).
Dusasa series
Dusasa means “patchwork assembled by members of a community”, explains the artist. “Dusasa” in the Ewe (Nigerian-Congolese) language means “the fusion of disparate elements on a large scale”. This is what El Anatsui does, in a way, with his team of assistants.
El Anatsui‘s tapestries, composed of a meticulous assembly of crushed metal bottle tops, like so many remnants of those fizzy, acidic drinks, scoriae of a thirst quenched under the sweltering heat of the African continent, are for the artist the primary and vital source of inspiration and raw material for his work… …
Dusasa II series, exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
“El Anatsui‘s work is resolutely modern, combining traditional craftsmanship in the tradition of the greatest embroiderers and tapestry-makers in history since the Middle Ages, the tradition of recycling and misappropriation so characteristic of the whole Indo-African continent, on the fringes of tradition, akin to origami in the dexterity of the gesture that folds and assembles, and the modernity of the design, which mixes lines and curves in the purest matierist style of minimalist compositions…” Olivier Castaing, Art consultant.
“Beauty doesn’t speak to the eyes. Beauty alone doesn’t count. It has to do with meaning.” El Anatsui
Fantastique !
Ma douce Missy merci pour ta visite