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visual artist and writer marisol diaz

i am a self-defined Nuyorican creative (that is a Puerto Rican who is from both the isles of Manhattan, NYC and the Caribbean). I share daily in the joy of education and live in a cute port town in New York, in a 'teensy-weensy' apartment with my two dogs and canary named Valentino. Check out my Etsy shop for purchasable pieces. Please do not reproduce imagery off of this site without explicit credit and no derivatives may be made of my original imagery- Thank You.

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This work by marisol diaz is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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Entries in Deasa (1)

Saturday
Jan312009

El Anatsui at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Since I find one of my overall passions as an artist and a blogger is to blur the line between fine art and craft, I like to feature both artist and art that walks this fine line. This past summer I was surprised to find Ghanian born artist El Anatsui featured as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's recent acquisitions. And for those of you who are lovers of art made from recycled materials you will be sure to love this find as well!

Dusasa II by El Anatsui @ the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The piece you see featured above is made from thousands and thousands of found aluminum and copper wire (flattened and discarded aluminum caps) that are weaved together. It is a wall-hanging and is quite large (full wall scale) I was craning my neck and having to step far back in the gallery to photograph it. El Anatsui is considered the foremost African contemporary sculptor.

detail of Dusasa II 2007 by El Anatsui

The community based Ghanian kente cloth construction of this piece can also be compared to mosaic work, folk art, and even the patterning that has been treasured in Gustav Klimt's paintings. The following images truly show the majesty and mastery of the piece.

detail shot of El Anatsui's DusasaII, 2007 piece

According to the artist (as I read on the title card)

the term Dusasa can be translated as 'a patchwork made by a team of towns people'
However another beautifully poignant quote from the artist that I found at another site states:
Art grows out of each particular situation, and I believe that artists are better off working with whatever their environment throws up.
- El Anatsui, 2003

super detail of El Anatsui's DesasaII wall hanging

On a side note - if you enjoy seeing El Anatsui's work, I recommend the National Museum of African Art site, which has a specially designated section on El Anatsui and three of his major works with podcasts of the artist talking. In addition, if you just google 'El Anatsui' amazing articles and images of his work come up!

Furthermore, if you love this kind of eco-conscious art-making you will really enjoy the Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. When I lived there I got to go often and it was indeed one of my all time favorite places to be! Please let me know what you think!