Seeing the Kente Cloth work sent me looking on the Internet for some more information about El Anatsui and to see more of his work.
This was how his work was described:
"Born in 1944, in the Ewe-speaking area of Ghana, El Anatsui, is today recognised as one of the foremost contemporary artists of his generation. Taking the broad spectrum of indigenous African cultures as an extended canvas, his central themes concern the erosion of these inherited traditions by powerful external forces and the manner of their survival and transmission into the present."
I was really struck by the amazing weavings using metal of all sorts including bottle tops, ring pulls etc creating such shimmering hangings. As in 1st picture above.
The other work I feel a great affinity to are his hardwood and tempura panels which are beautiful and stark and I think they will lead me to some new work. See 2nd and 3rd pictures.
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