Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

I had no idea just how big the new El Anatsui acquisition was until I saw it come out of its crate and unrolled yesterday afternoon. It’s HUGE! The preparators kept going for more blankets to lay out the more they kept unrolling and unrolling. For those of you who have yet to visit Tapping Currents: Contemporary African Art and the Diaspora, El Anatsui has a work, Hovor, featured in this exhibition.

It was apparent just how excited all the people were as the work was being unrolled. Because the work is sewn together with copper wire, the preparators and conservationists were very interested in how much time it might take to fix any stitches. The work seemed to be in excellent shape, but will certainly require much more inspection.

One really neat aspect of El Anatsui’s works of this nature is that they can be hung flat or sculpted on the wall. I am pretty sure I could see everyone’s brains already starting to wonder if there was a wall big enough to hang this one flat, and if not, then how much fun it will be to get to sculpt and “play” with the work. I am definitely looking forward to seeing what they come up with. We'll all have to stay tuned.