El Anatsui

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The first time we looked at this work , we must admit we weren't too sure of what we were actually witnessing.
Expertly draped on a wall and floors, the sculptures slowly and coyly revealed its true form and we began to process the nature of this amazing piece of art. It possessed fluidity and a sense of dynamism that was beautifully juxtaposed with a harsh metallic rigidity.

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A closer look assures that in actuality, individual used cans and liquor bottle tops- cut up, rolled, flattened, and arranged in a sequence were  the star of the show! These were then masterfully wired and transformed into a flowing representation of “Ghanaian cloth”.  Though one would expect the results of used bottle tops to look more commonplace or dilapidated, the results that emerge from this laborious process are richly colored, luxuriantly textured.

The Creator, El Anatsui, who was born 1944 in Anyako, Ghana. In 1975 he became professor of sculpture at the University of Nigeria, in the smallish city of Nsukka. Although Anatsui has experimented with a variety of medias, - wood, ceramics and paint throughout his career, recently, he has focused on discarded metal objects, thousands of which are joined together to create a truly revolutionary work of art.

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The branded liquor bottle tops also reference historic ties of alcohol trade which West Africa had with Europe and America. This can be seen as a way of informing the present through the use of the materials visual on the mixed consequences of former colonialism, current globalization, rampant consumerism and waste. “Back home we would characterize someone who is given to the pleasures of drinking and eating as someone who is ‘building in the stomach’; – the whole piece is talking about ‘consumption’”

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It is clear that these materials are being used out of necessity rather than choice. "I am changing the meaning of bottle caps. Metaphorically I am working with the lifting of the spirits." says Anatsui. As demonstrated with Anatsui's work there is a lot more behind the choice of material than one might first think.
                                                           
                                                           Amazing! check this out! 

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