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Lot Essay
“The work is about making a statement beyond what the eyes see… It has to give to the mind too.” - El Anatsui
Executed in 2005, El Anatsui’s TAGOMIZOR is an early example of the shimmering sculptural works which form the Ghanaian artist’s response to the complex nature of Africa’s place in the modern world. Comprised of thousands of pieces of metal that were once beer bottle ‘necks’ and caps, the artist has taken what was once discarded and turned it into an object of profound and magisterial beauty. Exhibited in several pivotal presentations of the artist’s work, TAGOMIZOR is emblematic of the work that resulted in El Anatsui becoming one of the most celebrated African artists working today.
Measuring over seven feet wide, the rippling folds that define the surface of TAGOMIZOR offer up a rich, sumptuous variety of reflected light. Made up of thin slivers of gold, silver, black, blue, emerald green, and maroon colored metal, the result is a mosaic of Byzantine beauty. That such beauty is then made from discarded bottle tops and ‘necks’ (the metal rings that help attached the screw tops to the bottle) adds a conceptual depth of the works obvious ethereal beauty. Part of his Danudo series, the present work is an early example from this important body of work as it utilizes used materials (as seen in the intrinsic nature of the metal) as opposed to new bottle neck wrappers direct from the manufacturers which El Anatsui began to use for later compositions.
However, El Anatsui points out that viewing his works purely through the lens of aesthetics only reveals part of the story. “The work is about making a statement beyond what the eyes see,” he says, “it has to give to the mind too” (El Anatsui, quoted by S. M. Vogel, El Anatsui: Art and Life, Munich, 2012, p. 83). Thus, the artist encourages viewers to get as close to the works as possible, close enough to see the African dirt encrusted into the bottle tops and to read the labels denoting the names and logos of the African beer companies that are printed on the metal fastenings. This situates the work firmly within its cultural context and introduces issues of global trade, industrialization, environmentalism, and ultimately colonialism into the discussion. This, according to artist, is as necessary to gaining a complete understanding of the work as is taking in only its gleaming and iridescent surface.
Anatsui also insists that utilizing pre-used materials, such as in the present example, adds a distinct human quality to his works. “You’ve touched it, and I’ve touched it,” he says. “There is now a kind of bond between you and me. And this is an idea which is very much related to religious practice, spiritual practice, in many parts of Africa and, I believe, in many cultures of the world. For example, if you go to consult a spiritualist, there is need to access or invoke the presence of an individual, and he may ask you to bring an item that belongs to that person, something he has used or handled” (E. Anatsui, quoted in L.L. James, “Convergence: History, Materials, and the Human Hand—An Interview with El Anatsui,” Art Journal, Vol. 67, No. 2, Summer 2008, p. 49).
In 2006, the present work was exhibited in the artist’s first exhibition in the United States, and later that same year, these “bottle top” works received their first American institutional presentation at the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles. The present work was also later included in New York’s Museum of African Art’s 2010 touring exhibition When I Wrote to you About Africa. The artist has also twice exhibited at the Venice Biennale (in 2007 and 2019), and in 2008 won an award for Lifetime Achievement at the Biennale. El Anatsui’s continues to be displayed in museums and prominent private collections all over the world making him one of Africa’s most important contemporary artists and one of the few whose works are recognizable on the world stage.
Executed in 2005, El Anatsui’s TAGOMIZOR is an early example of the shimmering sculptural works which form the Ghanaian artist’s response to the complex nature of Africa’s place in the modern world. Comprised of thousands of pieces of metal that were once beer bottle ‘necks’ and caps, the artist has taken what was once discarded and turned it into an object of profound and magisterial beauty. Exhibited in several pivotal presentations of the artist’s work, TAGOMIZOR is emblematic of the work that resulted in El Anatsui becoming one of the most celebrated African artists working today.
Measuring over seven feet wide, the rippling folds that define the surface of TAGOMIZOR offer up a rich, sumptuous variety of reflected light. Made up of thin slivers of gold, silver, black, blue, emerald green, and maroon colored metal, the result is a mosaic of Byzantine beauty. That such beauty is then made from discarded bottle tops and ‘necks’ (the metal rings that help attached the screw tops to the bottle) adds a conceptual depth of the works obvious ethereal beauty. Part of his Danudo series, the present work is an early example from this important body of work as it utilizes used materials (as seen in the intrinsic nature of the metal) as opposed to new bottle neck wrappers direct from the manufacturers which El Anatsui began to use for later compositions.
However, El Anatsui points out that viewing his works purely through the lens of aesthetics only reveals part of the story. “The work is about making a statement beyond what the eyes see,” he says, “it has to give to the mind too” (El Anatsui, quoted by S. M. Vogel, El Anatsui: Art and Life, Munich, 2012, p. 83). Thus, the artist encourages viewers to get as close to the works as possible, close enough to see the African dirt encrusted into the bottle tops and to read the labels denoting the names and logos of the African beer companies that are printed on the metal fastenings. This situates the work firmly within its cultural context and introduces issues of global trade, industrialization, environmentalism, and ultimately colonialism into the discussion. This, according to artist, is as necessary to gaining a complete understanding of the work as is taking in only its gleaming and iridescent surface.
Anatsui also insists that utilizing pre-used materials, such as in the present example, adds a distinct human quality to his works. “You’ve touched it, and I’ve touched it,” he says. “There is now a kind of bond between you and me. And this is an idea which is very much related to religious practice, spiritual practice, in many parts of Africa and, I believe, in many cultures of the world. For example, if you go to consult a spiritualist, there is need to access or invoke the presence of an individual, and he may ask you to bring an item that belongs to that person, something he has used or handled” (E. Anatsui, quoted in L.L. James, “Convergence: History, Materials, and the Human Hand—An Interview with El Anatsui,” Art Journal, Vol. 67, No. 2, Summer 2008, p. 49).
In 2006, the present work was exhibited in the artist’s first exhibition in the United States, and later that same year, these “bottle top” works received their first American institutional presentation at the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles. The present work was also later included in New York’s Museum of African Art’s 2010 touring exhibition When I Wrote to you About Africa. The artist has also twice exhibited at the Venice Biennale (in 2007 and 2019), and in 2008 won an award for Lifetime Achievement at the Biennale. El Anatsui’s continues to be displayed in museums and prominent private collections all over the world making him one of Africa’s most important contemporary artists and one of the few whose works are recognizable on the world stage.