I was recently introduced to the works of the Ghanian artist El Anatsui and I shared that moment with my readers. At the time of my introduction to the artist, i found out that one of his pieces was on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. I recently visited that institution to view the installed work.
The Smithsonain piece is titled Untitled and was created in 2009.
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| El Anutsui, Untitled, 2009 |
When compared to the Rain has no Father piece on display at the Denver Art Museum, Untitled, is less bounded and is suffused with gold color whereas the former had white/cream as the dominant color effect. The installation orientation differs also with the Denver piece displayed in a more head-on fashion while the Smithsonian piece had a more diagonal orientation.
The artist has emphasized that museum personnel have total control on how the pieces are deployed within their environment and there is evidence of fluidity in the display of the Smithsonian piece. The below is a screen capture from a video describing Untitled and it shows that, sometime in the past, the painting was displayed in a more straightforward fashion.
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| Screen grab, Untitled |
The straigt-on display appears somewhat brooding, ominous, and jowly while the diaganol catches and reflects light more effectively.
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| Untitled, detail |
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| Untitled, detail |
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| Untitled, detail |
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| Untitled, detail |
The construction of these El Anatsui pieces are driven by desgin decisions made by the artist but required hours of effort by his team to bring the sheets to a position where they can be manipulated by museum staff into a structure that strikes a chord with the viewing public.
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