Art and El Anatsui - Research Paper Example

Art and El Anatsui Brief background In his sculptures, El Anatsui has usually been using materials originating from his close surroundings in his sculptures. In the 1970s, he worked with trays of wood like the ones sold in Ghanaian market stalls. In late 1980s, he used yam pounders and clay pots, and then afterwards, he started designing using milk tins and metal bottle tops, thus infusing his work with myths and symbols. Most of his big compositions comprise of multiple parts (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute 11). Wastepaper bag This is an artwork incorporating a collection of aluminum plates together with copper wires. Anatsui is determined to challenge the stereotype of metal being a solid, inflexible medium and to a certain extent portray it to be a soft, pliant and almost sumptuous material which is capable of attaining vast dimensions and being modified to precise spaces. The forms created by Anatsui are layered with implications that reach far beyond the physical characteristics of his choice of materials. As showed in this eight-foot-tall figure of an oversized wastepaper pack, Anatsui makes an outright proclamation about the climbing issue of waste change in third planet countries which have restricted reusing proficiencies. This artwork also interprets upon the frequent not reusable nature of human life in a rather subtle way. Comprising of trashed printing plates which were used for obituary pages in newspapers, the portrayed images with their death announcements remind people of the incessant scourge of illness, corruption and maltreatment in a nation which has been struggling with the long-term aftermath, which is attributed to the effects of colonialism high illiteracy levels which has caused underdevelopment and corruption (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute 14). The brain behind this masterpiece artwork is Ghana-born. El Anatsui’s large-scale sculptures known as Gawu are known globally. The word Gawu is a composite of the words “ga,” which means something made of metal and 'wu,” which means a fashioned garment. From a distance, this “Gawu” appears to be large pieces of decorated, luxurious fabric, same as the traditional kente cloth specially woven for African royalty. It is only after close up scrutiny that someone is able to know that the sculptures are made from discarded materials like in this wastepaper bag, which comprises of trashed printing plates. There are other artworks where he has used flattened tins, tops and liquor bottle wrappers (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute 17). Through his artwork, El Anatsui guides his audience to reflect the social and economic account of West Africa’s past, consumerism, and garbage, as woven into fine-looking sculptures. The lesson from this artwork is that students can craft their own drapery as a response to Anatsui's art, incorporating African kente to find out rhythm and pattern in art. Waste materials can be recycled for use which in this artwork of wastepaper bag, it included folded papers and labels. It is the use of craft sticks which are then glued to a burlap background which gives the piece its firmness and dimension, enabling it to hang as a sculptural “Gawu” (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute 21). Although Anatsui has also worked using a variety of other mediums such as the wastepaper bag which was made of paper, he is however best known for his shimmering metal sculptures which he makes from several thousand liquor bottle tops of West African origin. This is one of the most renowned art works of El Anatsui. This wonderful piece of art work gives an insider's view of Anatsui’s practice of art. It took ingenious steps coupled with thousands of hours of labor. This is what converted the recycled waste bottle tops into the big, magnificent wall hangings. This artwork is a marriage of painting and sculpture; it is an object which speaks of African history as well as for the ethereal. This art piece or art work is very descriptive, and gives the audience a better and easy understanding of its theme and intention (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute 23). The master behind this master piece is a charming and easy going artist, but still remains a mystery even to his close friends and this mystery is exhibited through his elegant artwork. This art work may be seen to circle around Anatsui, drawing closer to a deep understanding his culture and environment where he usually seeks to come up with the best from what is readily available, and that is recycling items from bottle tops to beer bottles. In this artwork, he directed his assistants as they stitched together bottle tops into this immense metal hanging. These elegant, huge masterpieces of wastepaper art depict Anatsui’s demonstration of his artistic process which is a blend of his desire to express himself through utilization trash and his culture. The beauty and richness of Anatsui’s artworks has seen them being bought and sold, ending up in a gallery, museum, the home of a collector, or on a tourist’s body, sending out his message on a global scale since the owners know and appreciate art, thus their investment in it (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute 27). Due to his good work in his artworks, Anatsui has become very popular in the world of art, and this has opened many opportunities for his art work all over the world, since many people are buying his art works globally (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute 27). Conclusion Through this artwork, Anatsui encourages assorted readings by rearranging fragments of waste paper into this sculpture. This artwork portrays his movement, which is viewed as part of his nomadic aesthetic movement. Anatsui’s art is much like his poetic titles, since it can be simultaneously minuscule and monumental, fragile and aggressive, quirky and stern. In his artwork, we see no trajectory, nor a specific path to follow through history. What can be understood through his sculpture is El Anatsui asking his audience to make associations between our wisdom and his message, our surroundings and his materials, and above all, our lives and his art (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute 31). Works Cited Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. El Anatsui. Massachusetts: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011. Print. Read More