Beschreibung:

El Anatsui (Ghanaian, born 1944)Spirits, 1996
signed and dated 'EL/ 90' (lower centre, panel no. 20); each panel inscribed '1' to '20' in chronological order (verso)
carved, incised, scorched, and painted wood panels
98 x 196 x 3cm (38 9/16 x 77 3/16in).
(in 20 pieces)FootnotesProvenance
Acquired directly from the artist,
The collection of Franco Bordogna.
Beginning his artistic training at the College of Art, University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, El Anatsui was given a grounding in Western art traditions and practices. With a desire to connect with the arts of his own country, he began to visit the Kumasi National Cultural Centre on weekends. Here he was exposed to weavers, potters, cloth-printers and carvers, all working in traditional local methods. El Anatsui was motivated to incorporate these creative elements whether this be the practice or aesthetic appearance of these crafts into his own work, forging a distinctly Ghanaian aesthetic.
Spirits employs the colours and symbols traditionally used for Asante Adinkra cloth. The aesthetic historical Adinkra patterns are balanced by modern forms of construction, communicating his ancestral presence and interpreting it into this contemporary work. The planks of wood have been cut with a chainsaw, scorched with an acetylene torch, and delicately and meticulously painted. For the artist, the tearing of the saw through wood functioned as "a metaphor for the way in which the western powers had carved up and brutally divided the African continent amongst themselves, ripping through and destroying both local history and culture".
Bibliography
L. Binder, El Anatsui: When I last wrote to you about Africa, (Seattle, 2010).
J. Picton, El Anatsui: A Sculpted History of Africa, (London, 1995), pp.34-36.