CURRENT VIEWING: EL ANATSUI AT JACK SHAINMAN

The current work of artist El Anatsui : Zebra Crossing: Jack Shainman Gallery

After the massive success of his showstopping work at the 52nd Venice Biennale, anticipation levels were at maximum for El Anatsui's "Zebra Crossing" show at the Jack Shainman Gallery in NY. That and the recent addition of his piece "Between Heavan and Earth" to the sculpture collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art made this a must-see show. Artist Jayson Keeling had an audience with El Anatsui while the Ghanian-born artist was in NY and here are his photographs that document the experience.

EL ANATSUI
January 4 - February 2, 2008
Jack Shainman Gallery
13 W 20TH ST, NEW YORK, NY 10011

Drawing on African history and cultural idioms, as well as Western art practices, Anatsui uses rigid materials to create seemingly soft and pliable cloth-like structures, combining liquor bottle tops and metal foil from bottlenecks woven together with copper wire to make large sculptural works. Anatsui works with what is at hand, always looking to his environment, both natural and manmade, as a source of inspiration and material. An astute observer of color he composes his sculptures with meticulous orchestration, managing material and color like a painter. Here Anatsui's palette ranges from black, blue, red, yellow, purple, and green to silver, gold, white and pink; his final compositions from abstractions resembling modern paintings by the likes of Piet Mondrian to representational landscapes with appendages that extend beyond a more traditionally defined picture plane.

The current work of artist El Anatsui : Zebra Crossing: Jack Shainman Gallery

There is a profound distance between the shimmering opulence of the final product and the individual elements, essentially refuse, which comprise them. This transformation of discarded materials into stunning and magnificent works resembling tapestries fit for royalty, illustrates a transgressive element in Anatsui's artistic practice. The works are at once formally striking and full of references to cultural traditions like weaving, Ghanaian kente cloth and adinkra

The current work of artist El Anatsui : Zebra Crossing: Jack Shainman Gallery

Anatsui's sculptures also conjure up practical and environmental issues such as process, logistics, distribution, consumption, waste, and recycling. His ability to embrace dualities, and to engage formal, historical, and social issues at once, plants his work as firmly within the tradition of his native culture as within Western art practice. What results is a body of work that makes a lasting impression on viewers from all over the world.

The current work of artist El Anatsui : Zebra Crossing: Jack Shainman Gallery