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| El Anatsui |
By ADA DIKE
Artists, art
gallery owners, students, family and friends of veteran Ghanaian sculptor, Prof.
El Anatsui, converged at the Centre for Contemporary Art , (CCA),
at No. 9 Mc Ewen Street, Sabo, Lagos, last week Friday, March 14, 2014, to
celebrate his 70th birthday and witness the opening of an art exhibition
organised in his honour.
Tagged:
“El: Anatsui: Playing with Chance,” the exhibition which showcased his works
and that of some of his mentees will end on April 12, 2014.
Known
in art circles as a unique sculptor, for over 40 years, El Anatsui according to
the founder and director of CCA, Ms. Bisi Silva has expanded the language of
contemporary sculpture not only in Nigeria but also internationally.
“Since
the beginning of his career, he has sought to challenge the boundaries of
artistic practice as well as overcome the constraints of materials available to
him locally. In so doing, some of his earliest works started with amassing
discarded wood to create the wall hanging trays characteristic of his first
wood pieces. His move to Nigeria in the 1970s led to a sustained period of work
in clay resulting in the critical acclaimed works such as Broken Pots Series.
But by 1980s, he returned to wood after a workshop in America and began his
chainsaw wood sculptures for which he became known and celebrated across
Nigeria. Grace Stanislaus of the Studio Museum in Harlem showed these
sculptures for the first time internationally in 1990 during the Venice
Biennale in the seminal exhibition Contemporary African Artists: Changing
Tradition. However, the widespread international acclaim that he has received
in the last decade have been reserved for his scintillating monumental bottle
top sculptural hangings,” Silva said.
She
further said that: “Over 40-year-period, Anatsui has used his work to engage
with and comment on African history, colonialism, the post-colonial condition
as well as the daily realities and experiences on the content. As Nigerian
artist and art historian, Olu Oguibe states “from the very beginning, Anatsui’s
art has focused on and found its core meaning in Africa: the continent, its
people, its history and cultural heritage, its predicament.” In addition, he
sought meaning and communication through African signs and symbols such as
Adinkra as well in Uli and Nsibidi writing system.
“The
Centre for Contemporary Art presents with pleasure El Anatsui, Playing with
Chance to mark the 70th birthday anniversary of one of African’s most acclaimed
contemporary artists. The exhibition is shaped primarily through archival
material in an attempt to present an alternative insight into the work and
career of the artist. Through this presentation, an array of disparate
materials are brought together from his studio, his study and his library
including sketchbooks, drawings, letters, key exhibition, planning and
instruction documents, books he reads, books he features in and brochures and
exhibition publications he has written in. Also included are photographs,
videos about him, fragments of the bottle top works ‘salvaged’ from his studio,
his chainsaw wood sculptures and his early tray hangings and even a selection
of his payslips from the University of Nigeria over a 36-year-period. El
Anatsui was a consummate teacher who made an indelible mark on his students,
many of whom are now enjoying increasing national and international visibility.
His commitment to encourage the development of female artists is highlighted by
inviting three of his former students Nnenna Okore, Lucy Azubuike and Amarachi
Okafor to participate in the exhibition.
“El
Anatsui, Playing with Chance celebrates a creative spirit, a sincere person, a
generous man and a quiet leader. CCA, Lagos acknowledges his encouragement from
conception and his continuous support throughout our existence, especially as a
trustee. As I have stated before, I believe that He has engaged profoundly with
his cultural, political and social history. He has imbued the spirituality of
his forefathers. In the final analysis, Anatsui stands tall before the
ancestors,” she added.
According
to Bisi, she went through Anatsui’s letters and saw three or four pages of an
exhibition he was preparing and found out that he itemised in details things he
needed to do – from transportation to insurance. “I was surprised to know that
artists are actually as careful in planning as the curators, if not more. It is
important for young artists to know that planning, documentation and archive
are quite important. Nothing should be torn away because we hope in 20 or 30 years’
time, museums will want to exhibit their works from the beginning of their
career. In Prof’s pay slip displayed in the gallery, he received N200.00 as
monthly salary, by time they deducted tax, he was left with N173.00 per month.
“Today,
we have young artists who want to earn from N200,000.00 per month upward, without
knowing that they have to start from somewhere.”
Shortly
after saying an opening prayer, the director of Mydrim gallery, Lagos, Mrs.
Simidele Ogunsanya, briefly told the audience about her encounter with Anatsui.
“I met Anatsui in 2000 when we went to Nsukka. Since then, it has been a
wonderful relationship. He has so much works and has mentored many students. He
has taken sculpture way beyond the boundary we know. He takes a mortar, roll it
down a hill, pick the pieces and do an artwork. After our event in 2001and he
wanted to hold an exhibition, when comments were poured, I was so glad that 14
years later, Prof’s mentees are doing well. He has even young people to go
beyond boundaries. I am so proud of him.”
One
of Anatsui mentees who is currently participating in the exhibition said she
felt honoured to be part of the exhibition, Amarachi Okafor because she has
known Anatsui and has worked with him for many years. “I know that Prof EL
Anatsui is a great teacher, a mentor and a father figure. As an artist I
strongly believe that you have to find your feet while learning from your
mentor. If you are doing the same thing somebody else has done, it means that
you are copying that person as a follower and not an artist. At the onset of my
studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the university assigned me an
academic adviser – El Anatsui. Quite some good luck to my path with art!”
Her
work, “Latest bag, waxing old,” was on display which attracted a lot of guests.
Okafor graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2002 and has been
practicing art since then. She also has a Master’s of Arts degree (Curatorial
Practice) from Falmouth University, Cornwall, United Kingdom.
Just
like in other professions, Okafor admitted that she’s facing a lot of challenges
in finding her feet in art world to the extent that she sometimes assess
herself to know how far she has gone in doing what she loves doing.
She
revealed that Anatsui’s comments on her work as a student in school did
re-route her thinking to develop her mind further. “This pattern led me to
working as an assistant at his studio during the Academic Staff Union of
Universities strike in 1999/2000. ...His advices were always practical and
constructive. Studying under him for my MFA in Sculpture, he continued to push
us in his calm but relentless methods. Even today, at 70, outside regular
classrooms, Prof. El Anatsui still teaches anyone who would pay attention.”
Anatsui
was born on February 4, 1944 in Anyako, Ghana and was trained at the College of
Art, University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, but he spent his
active career period as a lecturer in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka from
1975.
Daily
Newswatch gathered that he lives in Nigeria and Ghana since his retirement in
2011. He has participated in over 100 exhibitions, both solo and group
exhibitions around the world and some of them include: Gawu, Hayward Gallery (2005), Rice University
Art Gallery, Houston (2010), Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C.
(2008) and Gravity & Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui," had its
New York premier at the Brooklyn Museum in February 2013. Organized by the
Akron Art Museum (exhibition: 2012), the exhibition later travelled to the Des
Moines Art Center (2013–14) and the Bass Museum of Art in Miami (2014).
The
celebrant shared the essence of the exhibition and stressed that the whole idea
about art is to be able to review past works by bringing new ideas to the old
things. “At 70, there were more ups than downs. It is based on consistency by consistently
working with ideas. When I started, for well over five years, I did some
traditional symbols and changed of course because I move from where I was to
Nigeria so I looked for a new medium and worked with clay because clay is
everywhere. Then something else happened, I discovered invocative quality of
tools that have been used in the past. At a particular time I worked with wood
with well over 17 years. Somewhere along the line, some metals came in and I kept
working with metal around late 1990s. The most important thing is persistence, you
just pick an idea and work on it.
As
a contemporary artist whose works speaks volume, he reiterated that doing work
and promoting African history and culture arise as one is working.
On
challenges he faces in sculpting, he said there are no challenges but
imagination. “I haven’t seen life that way in my practice so I like moving from
one positive note to another.”
In
a nutshell, he maintained that art in Africa has drawn attention globally and
added that not only art in Africa but also art in other climes except Europe.
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