El Anatsui: He Turns Junk Into Funk

Recently, I found out about a very interesting artist that sculpts artwork using junky things like bottle caps and wire; his name is El Anatsui. Plus, the CyberArts students will be working with him and the ROM to create an exhibit that portrays physical, mental, and spiritual walls we face in our day-to-day lives. All I can say is that I am very excited to be working next to such an amazing sculptor; this project is sure to be unforgettable!

El Anatsui's younger self in 1979 (right)


Wastepaper Bag by El Anatsui(underneath to the left)

WHO IS EL ANATSUI?

Born in Anyako, Ghana, in 1944, El Anatsui earned a Bachelor's Degree in Sculpture and a Postgraduate Diploma in Art Education from the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. He began teaching at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka as Professor of Sculpture and has been working there since 1975. He has been exhibited in countries all around the world, including the US, the United Kingdom, Israel, Italy, and Russia. He creates cloths(not the soft kind you are probably thinking of), made of metallic materials such as copper wire and aluminum liquor bottle caps.


Crumbling Wall by El Anatsui(left)


WHAT DOES HIS ARTWORK LOOK LIKE?

As you can see in the picture below, El Anatsui fills his works with patterns and different colours. This particular piece is very tall and wide, and it catches the viewer's eye. It is made of old graters(these were once used to make gari-a West African staple made of cassava flour). El Anatsui is built this as an homage to gari; because it is long and tedious work to make gari, this piece shows the resilency of African traditions.

El Anatsui also sculpts with wood and clay; he began creating metallic masterpieces about 10 years ago when he was driving down the road in Southern Nigeria and paused to look in a bag of trash. This bag contained discarded aluminum screw-tops from bottles of alcohol and El Anatsui took it with him to his studio. He began experimenting with the bottle tops-cutting, folding, and sewing them together with copper wire. This created a kind of metal cloth that El Anatsui has become so well-known for today.



The artist hard at work(left)

WHAT IS EL ANATSUI'S ARTWORK COMMUNICATING?

I think there is a wide range of messages hidden behind El Anatsui's work. In some, he is referring to Ghanian customs and traditions; for example, in his sculpture Adinkra Sasa, he makes reference to adinkra. Adinkra is dyed cloth stamped with designs made by the Akan people of Ghana. The designs stamped on them with a bark and iron slag mixture left a glossy surface on the cloths.

In others, he makes statements about waste problems in different countries and even deeper messages about the waste of human life. For example, in Wastepaper Bag, El Anatsui indirectly comments on the problems of waste transportation in countries that have limited recycling. It also conveys a message of disease, crime, and persecution affecting nations with political corruption and underdevelopment because the piece is made of discared printing plates used for newspaper obituary pages.


Chambers of Memory by El Anatsui(lower left)


WHAT ARE MY CONNECTIONS TO HIS CREATIONS?

When I heard that El Anatsui sculpted using junky materials, I wasn't expecting too much. I've seen works in the past where the artist piles a bunch of metal on top of a cardboard box and calls it some wierd title and suddenly everyone is raving about what a genius he is. But when I looked him up on the Internet and saw some of his pieces, I was blown away. I find it incredible that El Anatsui can transform metal into such an interesting shape, and at the same time prove to people that junky can be funky!

Adinkra Sasa by El Anatsui(lower left)











References:
http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/gawu/artworks.html
http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2009/02/22/style/t/index.html#pagewanted=1&pageName=22nigeria&
http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/newsletters/el_anatsui_ny/
http://www.artfacts.net/en/artist/el-anatsui-54637/profile.html