El Anatsui

Most famous for his magnificent installations created using bottle caps and other repurposed materials, El Anatsui has established himself as one of the most exalted and accomplished artists of his generation. This volume explores the physical as well as thematic enormity of Anatsui’s works. It spans every period of the artist’s career, from wooden and ceramic sculptures dating from the 1970s to newly commissioned sculptures. While his most famous sculptures are enormous and formidable, they manage to seem ethereal and light. Anatsui draws upon African art and culture in order to confront the legacies of colonialism and poverty, and responds to the formal Western artistic tradition under which he was trained. Essays discuss Anatsui’s ability to straddle form and genre. This book reveals the artist's unique understanding of the dialectical relationship between the physical presence of sculpture and its ability to convey new historical meaning.