Artist El Anatsui likes to make art with items that have been thrown away.
It’s not recycling that interests him. It’s the idea that an item was touched by another human being. "Because then it comes with not only energy, but history and it has a story," explained the 71-year-old African artist who splits his time between homes in Ghana and Nigeria.
"And I think the story has a way of continuing into the work."
He believes there is a human residue left on every day items. Offered as further proof, he cites the work of spiritual healers in Africa.
"Say somebody wants to have the love of another person. The healer you are consulting might ask you to bring something that a fellow has used and with that he’ll be able to make a connection," Anatsui said. "So things that humans have used have a spiritual energy in them."
In his most famous pieces, many of which are on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego's downtown location, Anatsui uses discarded screw-top caps from liquor bottles – everything from whiskey, gin and rum. He flattens and stretches the caps. Sometimes he uses the ring left on the bottle after the cap is twisted off. He wire stitches thousands of the mutated caps together into massive wall tapestries.
Some pieces are as big as a movie screen in a large theater. And they take a long time to make. I asked him how long it takes him, and he reminds me that he needs 30 assistants to help him.
"So if you’re working with 30 people, it takes two weeks to make a work. That means that one person making it is 30 times two weeks, which means it takes 60 weeks for one person to make one," Anatsui said.
The bottle caps are different colors: gold, silver, reds and blues. Many have logos and crests with names like Liquor Headmaster or Duke Beverages. The caps also reference the historic relationship between Europe and Africa, specifically the introduction of liquor to the continent.
"European traders brought items to Africa to trade with and this was one of the earliest items that was brought," Anatsui said.
The internationally acclaimed artist was born in a small fishing village in Ghana, the youngest of his father’s 32 children. His mother died when he was young, so he moved in to a mission house in another town with his uncle, who was a Presbyterian minister.
It wasn’t until later that he was exposed to many of the indigenous traditions in his country, like weaving Kente cloth. He would see this kind of weaving when he visited his hometown.
"In my hometown, almost everybody wove, because the place was a peninsula. And the main occupation was fishing, but when the lagoons would dry up, they’d switch to weaving," Anatsui said.
Anatsui’s father and many of his brothers wove. But he says he was never interested in it. His wall sculptures resemble glittering metal fabric. But he’s more interested in abstraction and ideas, than he is in the craft of weaving textiles.
"I have unconsciously come to textiles not as a technical process but as something which has meaning," Anatsui said.
The wall pieces can be manipulated to curve and fold. Most don’t hang straight. Unlike most artists, El Anatsui lets the staff at each museum install the pieces in whatever way they want. He doesn't provide the staff with instructions on how the works should look. That makes them change over time, he explained. They are not fixed works.
"Like David or Statue of Liberty, which is there for many centuries holding the torch," Anatsui said. "It's something I’ve rebelled against. I want art to reflect the vicissitudes and changes that life confronts us with every day.
Life is not a fixed thing and I want my artworks to be things you can change."
"Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui" will be on view through the end of June at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s downtown location.
