User:JAP09940/Group Project
Contemporary Art
[edit]WikiProject: El Anatsui
[edit]Page type: Stub, Biography
Pictures:
[edit](Everyone)
Picture of El Anatsui
Pictures dealing with his exhibitions
https://locatearts.org/exhibitions/memphis/nnenna-okore-rotunda-projects
https://www.flickr.com/photos/faceme/32225709124
Basic information:
[edit](Jesse)
Born 1944, in Anyako, in the Volta Region of Ghana
Had a preference for working with clay and wood (Better suited for making things dealing with his culture)
His hobby of sculpting led to him looking for a career in the art field
// I really can't find much asides from the basics when it comes to his younger years.
Trained at the College of Art, University of Science and Technology, in Kumsai, central Ghana
Here's a link to the wikipedia page for the college Anatsui attended:
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Although said link is already attached)
Earned his first degree in 1968 //Still trying to figure out what degree though
Maybe we should mention that he was an artist during the West African post-independence art movement? That might seem to be more of a fun fact though.
Began teaching at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975
Worked as a professor of sculpture for 35 years
Projects and Exhibitions:
[edit]Exhibitions (Loan):
In 1995, Anatsui held his first solo exhibition outside of Africa in London, which helped open the eyes of non-Western artists. He expressed a variety of themes and demonstrated how African art can be shown in a multitude of ways that are not seen as "typical" African.[1] His work utilized conceptual modes that were used by European and American artists but hardly in African countries.[1]
Anatsui showed his work at the de Young Museum in San Francisco in 2005. This was his first time "appear[ing] as part of the permanent collection in a major art museum."[1] His New York exhibition at the Skoto Gallery, "Danudo," created a bridge between his work and the international art world.[1] At this gallery, Skoto Aghahowa presented Anatsui's wood wall panels alongside Sol LeWitt's drawings. "Danudo" was the first displaying of his metal sheets in an American city. [1] This exhibition popularized his bottle-cap works as he gained more recognition in the press.
In 2007, Anatsui exhibited his works in Venice Biennale at the Palazzo Fortuny which consisted of newly-built walls for him to display three metal hangings entitled Dusasa.[1] Each artwork demonstrated different textures and colors ranging from golds, reds, and blacks. The way the bottle tops draped throughout the hangings created a sense of gentleness that made it stand apart from the other works in the gallery. [1] Art curator of the Biennale, Robert Storr, mentions that the artist's series "reaches back into a whole series of things in the postwar period-it has a kind of exaltation I have not seen before." [1] His career did not spur suddenly, starting in his home village of Nsukka and branched off to other places such as Enugu and Lagos, and eventually internationally. [1] During this Venetian showing, Anatsui wanted to create a new experience for his viewers conceptually. He believes that "human life is not something which is cut and dried. It is something that is constantly in a state of change."[1] At this point, he began to refer his metalworks as hangings instead of "cloths" and uses his inspiration and materials from Africa to speak about humanity. [1]
With his metal hangings continuing to spread over the world, Western art critics began to connect Anatsui's work with potential art historical references in order for them, foreigners, to create familiarity. For example, one mentions that his bottle tops could be compared to "Duchamp's bicycle wheel" and "recall disparate Modernist sweet spots without quite settling into any familiar category." [1]
Artistic practice: (Carter)
[edit]Anatsui's preferred media are clay, wood and found objects, which he uses to create sculptures based on traditional Ghanaian beliefs and other subjects. He has cut wood with chainsaws and blackened it with acetylene torches. After Anatsui's move from Winneba to Nsukka to pursue a career in education at the University of Nigeria, wood became less accessible to him. This drove him to pursue clay as a medium. Anastui's "Broken Pots: Sculpture by El Anatsui" was a series of vessels formed by shards of existing and created pottery. This series was Anatsui's first experiment with using many parts to create a whole. Often providing new context or meaning to the pieces he was using. More recently, he has turned to installation art. Some of his works resemble woven cloths such as kente cloth but were not intended as textiles, but as sculptures.[3]These works are made from found objects, usually metal bottle caps which are tied together with wire to create vast sculptures that resemble tapestries. Anatsui incorporates "Adinsubli" for his works, an acronym made up of uli, nsibidi, and Adinkra symbols,[4] alongside Ghanaian motifs.[1]
Awards (Victoria):
[edit]AWARDS:
El Anatsui won a honorable mention at the First Ghana National Art Competition during his time as an undergraduate stent in 1968. The following year he was awarded with the Best Student of the Year and his College of Art in Kumasi, Ghana.[1] 10
In 1983 the artist won a commission for two public large scale sculptures on the Nsukka campus, made of terrazzo surfaced cement.[1] 37
El Anatsui was selected to be one of ten artists invited to the Zweites Symposium Nordesekkuste residency in Cuxhaven, West Germany in 1984.[1] (pg164)
In 1990 Anatsui had his first important group show at the Studio Museum In Harlem, New York. He also was 1 out of 3 artists singled out in the 1990 exhibition "Contemporary African Artists: Chaning traditions which was extended for five years"[1]. That same year he was invited to the 44th annual Venice Biennale show "5 Contemporary African Artists" where he received an honorable mention[1]. This year he was selected for inclusion into the American documentary Nigerian Art-Kindred Spirits.
He was selected to act as a member on the International Society for Education through Art (InSEA ) world council in 1992 for his work in education. [1]
At the 6th annual Osaka Sculpture Triennial in Japan Anatsui was given the Kansai Telecasting Prize in 1995.[1]
In 1998 he received the Bronze Prize at the 9th Osaka Sculpture Triennial, Japan.[1]
The Public Prize from the 1990 7th annual Triennale Der Kleinplastik in Germany was given to the artist.[1]
El Anatsui became the founder member and fellow of the Forum for African Arts in the year 2000. This year he also became a member of the International Selection Committee for the Dakar Biennale n Senegal(pg.160)[1]
In 2001 Anastui was a fellow at the Civitella Ranieri Center in Italy.
He was invited to the Venice Biennale in 2006 and again in 2007 where two hanging metal tapestries were commissioned from Anatsui. Here he introduced his work into the contemporary art world.(pg 10)[1]
Anatsui was selected to be honored with the Visionaries! Award from the Museum of Art and Design in New York in 2008 (pg168)[1]
The artist was given the Prince Claus Award in Amsterdam and was the Artist Honoree at the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the National Museum of African Arts, Washington, D.C., in 2009. (pg)[1]
In April 2015 the Venice Biennale announced that it has awarded El Anatsui the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, a prize that "acknowledges not just his recent successes internationally, but also his artistic influence amongst two generations of artists working in West Africa."
On 26 May 2016, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Harvard University.
In 2017 he was awarded the Praemium Imperiale, the first Ghanaian to win the international art prize.