El Anatsui
Zane Bennett Contemporary Art | April 2019
“If you touch something, you leave a charge on it,” says El Anatsui. “And anybody else touching it connects with you, in a way.” Woven with recycled aluminum and copper wire, Anatsui's iconic garment-like sculptures subvert the notion that metal is a rigid material by manipulating it into pliable forms that arch and curve throughout their environment.
This motif extends to Anatsui’s printmaking. The stencils and pigment prints featured in the show contour off the page — either physically curling upon themselves or creating trompe l'oeil effects through patterns, shapes or pearlescent sheens. Some are printed on sheets of aluminium, while others feature hand-cut, hand-painted, or hand-woven elements that leave a charge of subversive invention straight from the artist’s hands.
Created in collaboration with the Benefit Print Project, this sophisticated series of prints utilizes new technologies. Co-founded by Thomas Lollar and Paul Limperopulos in 2010, the project has published artists such as Lynda Benglis, Shirin Neshat and Mickalene Thomas.
Program
In April 2018, Benefit Print Project co-founders Thomas Lollar and Paul Limperopulos appeared at the gallery to speak about producing this series with El Anatsui.
My contributions: Curatorial with Thomas Lollar and Paul Limperopulos of Benefit Print Project, press relations
Artwork: El Anatsui
Photography: Shayla Blatchford