Saturday, November 25, 2006

El Anatsui | Ghana/Nigeria/UK


El Anatsui
Ghana
El Anatsui

Highly regarded in Africa, where he is considered to be one of the leading sculptors of his generation, Ghanaian-born El Anatsui is now rapidly establishing a wide international reputation. Chosen to represent the African continent during the 44th Venice Biennale in 1990, he has participated in many important exhibitions abroad - in England, Germany, the United States, Japan and Brazil - and has been a leading contributor to a number of international workshops for artists.

While there have been numerous articles written that deal with his impressive body of work, this book represents the first attempt to draw together under a single cover the many aspects of this artist`s singular career. The book gives both the general reader interested in the visual arts and the reader more particularly interested in contemporary African art, an overview of El Anatsui`s career and an analysis of his work to date. The various texts are complemented by a series of beautiful colour and black & white reproductions.

Just as El Anatsui`s work is concerned with the hidden histories of many different African cultures, so too this book is a composite tissue woven from different sources and written in different languages. The contributors are John Picton, Reader in African Art at SOAS, University of London Gerard Houghton, writer and linguist at the October Gallery Yukiya Kawaguchi, Curator at the Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo Elisabeth Lalouschek, Artistic Director of the October Gallery Simon Njami, Editor of Revue Noire, Paris, France and Elizabeth Péri-Willis, an expert on West African visual artistic practices.

1 comment:

BECA said...

BECA gallery would appreciate receiving more contemporary art submissions from Africa. Our current Call is posted at: http://becagallery.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/01/global-call-to.html

Global Call to Artists - Deadline Feb. 21st
A call for 2D and 3D submissions for the second international emerging contemporary art group exhibition at BECA gallery, New Orleans, LA, USA.

‘Mirror for the 21st Century’

Art is the means by which we communicate what it feels like to be alive.- Antony Gormley

THEME: “Art is often described as reflecting the spirit of an age, providing an insight into the complexities of living in a particular time, place or society.

How will the early years of the third millennium be characterized? The theme for this exhibition focuses on works that reflect a personal or collective experience of what it means to be alive now and is open to artists globally. It can document a brief, individual moment, explore wider issues that relate to contemporary life or suggest cultural strategies for improving lives locally, nationally and internationally.” – Helen Pheby, PhD.

CURATOR and JUROR – Helen Pheby, PhD, Deputy Curator, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, England.

Helen’s PhD thesis examined case-studies of international public art in order to develop her ongoing research into why art in public collections is not seen to be ‘public’, and how lines of communication may be facilitated between organizations and audiences. In addition, Helen is one of a small number of cultural ambassadors invited by the National Government of the UK to inspire the next generation of students and is a mentor for local schools in deprived communities.

Helen is the Deputy Curator at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, England, an international centre for modern and contemporary art. YSP is the largest of its kind in Europe with revolving exhibitions by artists including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Sir Anthony Caro, Mark di Suvero, Sol LeWitt, Ulrich Ruckriem, Antony Gormley, Winter/Hörbelt and works by James Turrell and Andy Goldsworthy in the landscape. It consists of eight outdoor exhibition spaces set within a 500 acre, 18th-century, country estate and four indoor galleries that total the largest indoor contemporary exhibition space outside London. Along with curating exhibitions and projects at YSP, Helen is working with communities worldwide to improve accessibility to and the appreciation of the arts, including helping forward the foundation of a sculpture park in Kurdistan-Iraq and several public art projects in the UK.

EXHIBITION - BECA gallery is pleased to present ‘Mirror for the 21st Century’, an international emerging contemporary art group exhibition from April 5 - 30, 2008. Complete information and submission form can be found at: http://becagallery.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/01/global-call-to.html