Zurcher !1

!!!!!!!!!!Destruction and Growth: The Work of El Anatsui!!

A Proposal for the Consideration of the "Alfred Richardson Thompson Family Foundation Search Committee"!!!!!!!!!!!

Kaitlyn Zurcher"!!!!!!!!!!Art History 446"Professor Foss"

February 18, 2014"!!

Zurcher !2

“That was my own way of affirming something positive: destruction as a prerequisite for new ideas and for new growth.”!

- El Anatsui !1!" The Penn State community is no stranger to the concept of “destruction as a prerequisite

for growth.” In the past few years, the university has received more negative attention than any

other school in the country. The entire “Penn State culture” was criticized, beaten down, and

forced to re-evaluate itself. From this destruction, however, emerged awareness, change, and

hope for the future. As the community moves forward, we need a presence on campus that

actively acknowledges the hardships of the collective human experience while building up hope

for overcoming adversity and advocating change. There’s no better way to express this message

than to showcase a revolutionary exhibition of the works of El Anatsui."

" A Ghanaian artist working out of Nigeria, El Anatsui has been creating some of the most

innovative, monumental art of our time. Primarily a sculptor, he uses cheap, plentiful, common

materials to create wondrous, thought-provoking, exquisite works of art. The beautifully breath-

taking messages and stories behind each of his works are highly relatable, transcending

international borders and connecting to the human experience. Hidden in the crude materials and

raw destructiveness of his pieces is an overwhelming sense of hope. "

" If I should be hired as the Special Curator of Contemporary Art, my focus would be two-

fold. For one, I would strive to curate exhibitions that garner international attention and place

State College on the map as an up-and-coming town full of unique culture. On the other hand, I

would also place a lot of focus on cultivating a newfound appreciation for the arts in the Penn

State community. As a college town with 40,000 undergraduate students, many of whom have

never stepped into the Palmer Museum of Art or another gallery on campus, we need an

El Anatsui, interview by Art21, Art in the Twenty-First Century: Change, April 14, 2012.1

Zurcher !3

impossible-to-ignore opening exhibition that grabs their attention and makes them eager for

more. El Anatsui’s work will do just that."

" My first criteria in choosing from Anatsui’s vast amount of works was to find ones that

most fit the themes of destruction, change, and growth. When it came to the larger-scale pieces

on the exteriors of buildings, I not only chose some of the most eye-catching, but I also took the

building’s architecture, location, and purpose into consideration."

!Exhibit Details!

" This showcase of El Anatsui’s work would be a large-scale exhibition spanning various

locations across the Penn State campus. The ideal time to open this exhibit would at the

beginning of the fall semester; not only would early fall have the perfect weather for a primarily

outdoor exhibition, but students would be flooding in for a new school year eager and excited to

explore campus."

" The main exhibit space would be in the Robeson Gallery in the HUB-Robeson Center in

central campus. I also envision smaller concentrations of works being placed in both west and

east campus. This way, people looking to view all of the Anatsui pieces on display would only

need to focus on three locations; in the course of a few minutes and just a matter of steps, an

individual would see at least three pieces. Also, this display strategy would allow the art to be

exposed to those who are not typically on the look-out for it. Having concentrations of pieces

throughout campus would make it difficult for Penn State students, faculty, and visitors not to

encounter at least one piece as they go about their day. "

!!

Zurcher !4

Central Exhibit Space: Robeson Gallery!

" The Robeson Gallery, located in the basement of the HUB-Robeson Center, was chosen

because of it’s central location on campus and the high amount of traffic that flows through the

HUB every day. It would serve as a place to display some of Anatsui’s smaller pieces from his

earlier years. Following with the theme of “destruction as a prerequisite for growth,” the gallery

would feature pieces that deal with brokenness, adaptability, and change. "

" One piece in this gallery would be Anatsui’s Erosion from 1992. This wooden sculpture

stands at nearly 10 feet tall, with wood chips and sawdust scattered on the floor around it (see

Image 1). For Anatsui, the color of the wood represents the people and cultures of Africa; he then

took a chainsaw to the wood and blackened it with a blowtorch . By starting with a beautifully 2

whole piece of wood, altering it with savage force, and creating something new, Anatsui gives

this piece the common theme of “destruction and growth.”"

" Other pieces in this gallery that fall under similar themes would include selections from

his Broken Pots series from the late 1970s (see Image 2) and wooden panels such as 2002‘s

Communication Lines in 1004 Flats (see Image 3) and 1998‘s Day and Night Opening to Each

Other (see Image 4). The Broken Pots series quite obviously shows new beginnings that can arise

from destruction, while the wooden panels communicate themes of human connections and time

passing, as well as physical change (as the panels can be arranged in any way a curator wants)."

" Yet the focal point of the interior of the Robeson Gallery would be the display of

Anatsui’s 2007 piece Fading Scroll. This piece is currently owned by the Los Angeles County

Museum of Art and the Fowler Museum . At 472 inches long, this aluminum and copper wire 3

Geoff Wisner, “El Anatsui’s Shifting Planes,” Warscapes, October 10, 2013.2

Brooke Fruchtman, “Last Chance to See Fading Scroll... For Now,” Unframed (blog), October 31, 2008.3

Zurcher !5

bottle cap piece would fit perfectly in the gallery’s rotunda (see Image 5). Walking into that

circular space would allow viewers to be immersed in the reflective gold of the carefully

constructed aluminum fabric; the reflectiveness would be enhanced by the windows around the

rotunda that let in natural light."

" The exterior of the gallery would display a piece from 2006 called Versatility, an

aluminum and copper wire piece currently owned by the Fowler Museum at the University of

California, Los Angeles (see Image 6). It’s an exquisite, large-scale gold piece which greatly

compliments the gold Fading Scroll on the interior made of the same materials. Additionally, the

title itself ties the work to the exhibition’s themes of change and growth. According to the

National Museum of African Art, Anatsui claimed that this piece is a metaphor which “suggests

the notion of adaptability and the twists and turns of human existence” . "4

!West Exhibit Space: IST Building, Hammond Building, Library!

" The Information Sciences and Technology (IST) Building is one of the buildings that

would be in the west campus concentration of the exhibition. This building is built as an

overpass which spans over Atherton Street, a highly trafficked street that many use to enter and

exit campus. This overpass would be a fantastic place to hang Anatsui’s sheer Gli from 2010 (see

Image 7). Draping it from the building would add two additional dimensions to the piece:

movement and sound. The wind -- either natural breeze or manufactured by speeding cars --

would gently swing Gli back and forth, creating a noticeable sound for all passersby. "

" Hammond Building stretches across a considerable length of southwest campus and runs

parallel to several downtown restaurants, bars, and shops, making it a great location for Anatsui’s

“El Anatsui: Gawu,” National Museum of African Art, 2009.4

Zurcher !6

monumental Broken Bridge II constructed in 2012 out of recycled tin and pressed mirror panels

(see Image 8). It’s incredible mirrored surface would reflect quaint downtown State College and

the sky above it, creating an eye-catching display that would spark the interest of the thousands

who frequent the area."

" The third location in west campus to display an Anatsui masterpiece would be the south

entrance to Pattee and Paterno Libraries. Here I would place Ozone Layer, a 2010 piece that was

originally shown at the National Gallery in Berlin (see Image 9). The juxtaposition of the new

work of art made of bottle caps and one of the older buildings on campus adds to the idea that we

cannot neglect the past -- we must learn from it. In addition to that, the title Ozone Layer hints at

an ongoing (perhaps man-made) destruction, which fits with the theme of the exhibition."

!East Exhibit Space: Business Building, Arboretum, Katz Law Building!

" The eastern section of the exhibition would consist of, ideally, a commissioned piece

similar to Anatsui’s Broken Bridge as displayed at the Paris Triennial in 2012 (see Image 10).

Placed on the exterior of the Business Building, it would serve to reflect that which faces it.

While the town of State College is being reflected on the Hammond Building in the southwest

corner of campus, the trees of the Arboretum and vast country side will be reflected on the

Business Building in the northeast. This brings nature back into the structure of this very angular

building and into campus as a whole. It would contrast the stability of the natural world with the

ever-changing world that is the Penn State campus."

" The Arboretum itself would have the 2000 piece Crumbling Wall on display. Currently in

the collection of Audrey and David Mirvish in Toronto, Canada (see Image 11), Crumbling Wall

is made of rusting steel sheets that were once used to rigorously grate flour by hand. Anatsui said

Zurcher !7

in an interview with The Washington Post that this 13-foot-tall “wall” not only hides, but reveals

things, because one can see through the porous surface and project what may be behind it . 5

Placing this crude structure in the Arboretum would speak to the melancholy of depleting

materials while highlighting the natural beauty around it."

" The final piece on display would be TSIATSIA - searching for connection, originally

created in 2013 for the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Comprised of bottle caps, printing

plates, and roofing sheets, Anatsui has said that this piece is a metaphor for “the evolving

narrative of memory and identity” . That being said, I find it fitting for TSIATSIA to be placed on 6

the eastern-most part of Penn State, in a location where one can step back from the bubble of

campus and consider their own individual place and identity within it all. "

---"

" I find the thread of themes in El Anatsui’s works to be highly intriguing. The insight

present in his art speaks to the universal human experience of destruction, change, and growth.

The pieces chosen in this exhibition proposal are what I believe can best be adapted to the Penn

State campus while complimenting the university’s cultural needs and expectations. If this

exhibition were to be displayed, there is no doubt that Penn State would become one of the most

well-respected and highly talked about university art scenes in the country."

!!!!

Barbara Pollack, “El Anatsui, a Sculptor Who Starts From Scrap,” The Washington Post, March 23, 2008.5

October Gallery, “El Anatsui: TSIATSIA-searching for connection,” 2013.6