El Anatsui @ 80* *:* *Proud of You, Sage* *and Art Master

By Chuka Nnabuife 

I CANNOT recall with precision when I met the great artist, El Anatsui for the first time  but I was certain how and what context it was. 

It was in the middle of the 1980s during one of the very early art exhibitions of the age-defining Aka Group of Exhibiting Artists (simply identified as 'Aka'). In the group of then a dozen excellent studio artists, recognised all over Nigeria as frontrunners in the field, he was one of the stand-out exhibitors.

Even in those early years, he was unmistakably a 'main eventer' in mainstream art events, a manifest master in studio art practice and a very popular art teacher at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

In fact, at UNN, he was a mentor of many art students, particularly those with interest in avantgarde sculpture, mixed-media and installation art.

One could hear the calls and references to the name 'El' well before an encounter with exhibits that bear the signature 'El Anatsui'. And always, a beholding of the art works justified the 'chorus' and 'refrains' with the name.  

Any piece (often assemblage of art pieces under a theme) with the El Anatsui signature, always tosses the mind of the viewer in many directions.I cannot recall with precision when I met the great artist, El Anatsui for the first time  but I was certain how and what context it was. 

It was in the middle of the 1980s during one of the very early art exhibitions of the age-defining Aka Group of Exhibiting Artists (simply identified as 'Aka'). In the group of then a dozen excellent studio artists, recognised all over Nigeria as frontrunners in the field, he was one of the stand-out exhibitors.

Even in those early years when only sketchy information was available in public domain about his private like aside just being known as workaholic somewhat hermitic artist, he was unmistakably a 'main eventer' in mainstream art events; a manifest art master in studio practice and a very popular art teacher at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

In fact, at UNN, he was a mentor of many art students, particularly those with interest in avantgarde sculpture, mixed-media and installation art.

Typically, in expo halls where he was in the slot, one could hear characteristic calls and references to the name 'El' well before an encounter with his exhibits. Upon meeting the art pieces that bear the signature 'El Anatsui', the reason for the popularity becomes clear. Beholding the art works justified the 'El!', 'El!',  'El!', 'chorus' and 'refrains'. Yet the man with the name, when you get to meet him, would cut an image somewhat disproportionate to the huge fame.  Though not small-framed, El never dressed to catch the eye. He seldom talked and hardly loitered around the klieglight. Aside his trademark grey hair (he seems to have always had the ivory fibers atop his head) the jeans trousers, the usual hunter bag he slings on his side, he also has a passion for batik tops.

Similarly, El's art works have their unique traits. Any piece (often assemblage of art pieces under a theme) with the El Anatsui signature, always tosses the mind of its viewer in many directions. 

Viewers always left the artworks wishing to return because of the high level of thinking encapsulated in those displays. From hair-raising use of materials to the unconventional category of the pieces to finishing technique, El's outputs engage and capture viewers' attention. A vital aspect of the creations is the long impression they leave in the viewers' mind. 

Most pieces by El easily stick to viewers' memories like engraved seals. They also serve as metaphors of given time. One still recalls the 1986 (1987) piece, 'Visa Queue' which he offered in an Aka exhibition. The assemblage of termite-eaten chomps of wood in a row that hints a queue at an embassy so captured the mad rush for visas and migration by Nigerians then that almost four decades after, particularly, in this new _japa_ (desperation to leave the country) era the piece comes quick to mind.

But the main factor in the  'young' octogenarian's art is unpredictability. Like the great Spain-born France-based artist of the 20th Century, Pablo Picasso, the Ghana-born Nigeria-based El Anatsui creates with the curiosity of a child. He tries out everything he imagines and turns it into art. Hence, he can turn millions of abandoned bottle corks into wonderful art as he did in the gigantic masterpiece,  'The Red Moon', now on display in Tate Modern.

His restless spirit in his studio production is of high level. A radical zeal and energy to explore new frontiers in use-of-materials makes him go to unimaginable extent to source discarded items from his environment, be they used plastic bottles, aluminium bottle caps, beads, twine, binding wires, threads among others which he stores in huge sacks for months before he makes engaging monumental artworks from them. 

Some of his notable series such as the 'Old Man's Cloth' and the 'One Million Pieces of Home' (Brooklyn Museum, U.S.A) the bound metal assemblage, 'Gawu' in his wall hangings and the 'textile sculptures' were products of such dexterity.

El's studio adventure in a variety of hitherto unexplored media makes it difficult to pigeonhole him in any particular genre of art. He is as much a sculptor as he is a ceramist or painter. He has experimented with prints, the metaverse and   pseudo-reality. He has a perculiar skill for making sculptures that strike as textile, paintings, ceramics or just artifacts of indefinite confinement.

He still carves and exploits natural contours and wear-outs in tropical hardwoods.

Thematically, he has  addressed global and local issues, from climate change crisis to rise in consumerism as his bottle cover works do. Even as he seldom grants news interviews he has, from his studio in the serene, suburban university town of Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria used his art to speak eloquently to serious global issues as human rights, freedom of expression and association, mobility, decolonialism and environmental responsibility.

He has a dynamic way of remaining conspicuously relevant through his works' titles, materials and, arguably the platforms he exhibits his works, locally, nationally and internationally.

Obviously, the most frontline contemporary African artist based in homeland, El has his works in 'A' class collections and showcases around the world. He has also sired young artists who are 'holding their own spaces' and faculties in many art institutions and academic platforms around the world. 

A philanthropist and motivator of youngsters, El has sired a clearly identifiable generation of artists whose studio outputs loudly tout the chorus and refrain 'El!' 'El!' 'El!' anywhere they show. A typical example is the group of artists that staged the very successful art exhibition, 'New Energies' in Lagos, Nigeria at the berthing of the new millennium. Recently, he has also financed the exhibition of the works some young artists who were in the final shortlist of the 'Life in My City Art Festival' from Enugu, at the Biennial of African Art in Dakar, Senegal.

As the sage and art master turns 80, my message to him is derived simply from what he told me, alongside my colleagues during the press conference, ahead the 'New Energies' exhibition in Signature Gallery, Lagos. Asked to summarise his opinion on those his former students who were exhibitors in the show, he replied: "I am very proud of them."

My birthday message: I am (we are) proud of you, the Great El.

• *_Sir Nnabuife* , FNGE FSNA is a Cultural Ambassador of Nigeria's National Council for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) and  former National Secretary of Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA)

He wrote through 

2348026472357  

chukafornaija@gmail.com@gmail.com