Anatsui, Dusasa I, Installation View, 52nd Venice Biennale, Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery

I was first introduced to Anatsui’s work in 2006 at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York. But it was in the Arsenale at the 2007 Venice Biennale where I fell in love with the majestic shimmer and grandeur of his metal wall sculptures Dusasa I and Dusasa II. I am speaking of his bottle cap installations (he refers to them as metal wall sculptures) for which he is best known that often cover entire walls. Little did I know that his oeuvre includes so much more until I stumbled upon a small show of his work in Brooklyn.

Born in Ghana, he now lives and works in Nigeria. He buys the bottle tops from local Nigerian distilleries but used to collect them and so earlier works were covered in red dust from his local town in Nigeria giving the works an added element of mystery. Since the bottles can be recycled it is simply the labels which remain leading Anatsui to  investigate the notion of consumption. Not only are these works political statements but beautiful folding, sensual fabric made out of metal.

Anatsui, Signatures, 2005

It turns out Anatsui has always used humble materials to create works with a monumental presence. In a work called “Signatures” he simply uses paint and wood but the work is amazing and takes on another life in its finished form. He was inspired by the paint that merchants use to identify the stacks of wood that they have cut down in Nigeria. He used discarded logs and painted the ends in his own linear patterns using blues, yellows, and reds.

Anatsui, Sketchbook drawings

Earlier in his career in the 1970s he played with graphic writing symbols in wooden carvings and on wooden ceremonial trays. He began to experiment with ceramics in the late 1970s. In his broken pot series he used shards and made them whole again giving them a rebirth. His sketchbook contains hundreds of drawings for public sculptures and works which were eventually realized in 3-D form. Made of vertical slats which can be arranged in any order according to the artist (though he numbers them on the back and obviously has an idea of how they should be placed), he used a chainsaw to carve the imagery in these wooden works. He was meticulous about the types of woods used for certain pieces. Later he added color to these works using reds, yellows and blues similar to those found in the bottle top works.

Peak cans used for work

The most interesting work in the exhibition are the Peak Project works which are just a small sample of a very large installation consisting of over 200 individual segments of which 25 are on view. The peaks are made of rusted lids from Peak Milk cans held together with copper wire. Again, Anatsui is examining the theme of consumption and trade.

Anatsui. Peak Projects, 1999

The coolest thing about these works is that the rectangular sheets are folded into mountain-like peaks but they change shape and form with each installation. They are not frozen as one might expect.