El Anatsui, who was born in Ghana and now works in Nigeria, is widely considered today's foremost contemporary African sculptor. Anatsui's wall-hanging sculptures are assembled from found materials—typically thousands of discarded aluminum caps and seals from liquor bottles, which he flattens, shapes, perforates, and painstakingly assembles with copper wire. Although he considers himself a sculptor, the artist meticulously orchestrates his materials like a painter working with oil on canvas or the director of a tapestry workshop. His work is anchored firmly in his traditional culture (Ghanaian kente cloth), Western art (mosaic, tapestry, chain-mail armor, the paintings of Gustav Klimt), and contemporary life (the consumption of alcohol, the detritus of consumerism). According to the artist, the title, Dusasa, can be translated as a "communal patchwork made by a team of townspeople," analogous to the artist's team of assistants.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Dusasa II
Artist:El Anatsui (Ghanaian, born Anyako, 1944)
Date:2007
Medium:Found aluminum, copper wire, and plastic disks
Dimensions:236 x 288 x 2 in. (599.4 x 731.5 x 5.1 cm)
Classification:Sculpture
Credit Line:Purchase, The Raymond and Beverly Sackler 21st Century Art Fund; Stephen and Nan Swid and Roy R. and Marie S. Neuberger Foundation Inc. Gifts; and Arthur Lejwa Fund, in honor of Jean Arp, 2008
Object Number:2008.121
Rights and Reproduction:Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, NY
[Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, 2007–8; sold to MMA]
Venice. Biennale. Arsenale and Italian Pavilion. "52nd International Art Exhibition. Think With the Senses, Feel with the Mind: Art in the Present Tense," June 10–November 21, 2007, unnumbered cat. (p. 386; lent courtesy the artist).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Modern Design: Selections from the Collection," May 30–October 5, 2008, no catalogue.
Munich. Haus der Kunst. "El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale," March 8–July 28, 2019, no catalogue.
Doha. Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. "El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale," October 1, 2019–February 2, 2020, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making The Met, 1870–2020," August 29, 2020–January 3, 2021, unnumbered cat. (fig. 260).
Michael Kimmelman. "That Unruly, Serendipitous Show in Venice." New York Times (June 15, 2007), p. E34.
Carol Vogel. "Art in the Present Tense: Politics, Loss and Beauty." New York Times (June 11, 2007), p. E5.
Martin Herbert. "Africa in the Present Tense." Modern Painters 19 (June 2007), p. 78.
Marcia E. Vetrocq. "The Venice Biennale, all'americana." Art in America 95 (September 2007), p. 141, ill. pp. 136–37 (color, installation photo, Exh. Venice 2007).
Barbara Pollack. "The New Razzle-Dazzle." Art News 107 (June 2008), pp. 118–19, ill. (color, installation photo, Exh. Venice 2007), calls it "Dusuasa II".
Alan Gilbert. "New York: El Anatsui, Jack Shainman Gallery." Modern Painters 20 (April 2008), p. 79.
Laura Leffler James. "Convergence: History, Materials, and the Human Hand—An Interview with El Anatsui." Art Journal 67 (Summer 2008), ill. p. 49 (color, installation photo, Exh. Venice 2007).
Kinsey Katchka. "Exhibition Review. '52nd Venice Biennale': Think with the Senses—Feel with the Mind: Art in the Present Tense." African Arts 41 (Autumn 2008), pp. 84–85, fig. 2 (color, intallation photo, Exh. Venice 2007).
Roberta Maneker in "Top 100 Treasures." Art & Antiques 31 (November 2008), p. 88.
Robert Storr. "Letters: Venice Revisited." Artforum 47 (January 2008), p. 52.
Alexi Worth. "Meet the African Artist Who Uses 'Empties' to Reinvent Sculpture. El Anatsui and a Thousand Bottles of Rum on the Wall." New York Times Style Magazine (February 22, 2009), pp. 154–55, ill. (color, installation photo, Exh. Venice 2007).
Elizabeth Harney and Odili Donald Odita. El Anatsui: Zebra Crossing. Exh. cat., Jack Shainman Gallery. New York, 2009, ill. pp. 101 (color detail), 103 (color, installation photo, Exh. Venice 2007).
Anne L. Strauss in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 2008–2010." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 68 (Fall 2010), p. 82, ill. (color, overall and detail).
Robert Storr inEl Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa. Ed. Lisa M. Binder. Exh. cat., Museum for African Art, New York. New York, 2010, p. 52.
Risham Majeed and Giulia Paoletti. "Exhibition Review. 'When I Last Wrote to You About Africa,' Royal Ontario Museum." African Arts 44 (Winter 2011), pp. 87–88, fig. 2 (color, installation photo, MMA galleries).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2012, p. 435, ill. (color).
Warren Seelig. "On Innovation." Surface Design Journal 36 (Winter 2012), ill. p. 6 (color).
Chika Okeke-Agulu. "El Anatsui's Metamorphic Sculptures / El Anatsuis metamorphe Skulpturen." Parkett no. 90 (2012), pp. 65, 73, ill. p. 70 (color, installation photo, Exh. Venice 2007).
Gerard Houghton. El Anatsui. Exh. cat., October Gallery. London, 2013, unpaginated.
Robert Preece. "Material Splendor: A Conversation with El Anatsui." Sculpture 33 (November 2014), p. 41.
Sherri Irvin. "Repeatable Artworks and the Relevant Similarity Relation." Journal of Aesthetic Education 52 (Summer 2018), p. 38.
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. (color) pp. 170–71 (overall) and frontispiece (detail).
Max Hollein inMaking The Met, 1870–2020. Ed. Andrea Bayer with Laura D. Corey. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2020, pp. 241, 257, fig. 260 (color).
Susan Mullin Vogel. El Anatsui: Art and Life. Munich, 2020, pp. 95, 110, 113, 118, 122, 206 n. 18, ill. (color) pp. 94 (detail), 95, 114.
Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu. El Anatsui: The Reinvention of Sculpture. [Bologna], 2022, pp. 210, 214–15, 224, 350–51, figs. 4.4 (color, installation photo, Exh. Venice 2007), 4.8, 4.9, 4.12 (color, installation photos, MMA galleries, 2008, 2010, 2020), 4.10, 4.11 (color, installation photos, Exh. Munich and tour 2019).
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