Exploring the Influence of El Anatsui Art on Architecture

“El Anatsui” born Emmanuel Kwami Anatsui is an international artist whose professional practice took its root from indigenous akan and asante of his native homeland of Ghana, with uli and nsibidi traditions of Nigeria, his land of sojourn. He believes the creative acumen of an artist could still flourish by engaging locally sourced materials for artistic explorations, hence his choice of materials ranges from wood, to discarded items such as screw-top caps from alcohol bottles, rusted zincs, copper wire etc. He is one of African’s most celebrated artists globally, whose creative presence can be felt in world popular museums and galleries like Tate Modern London, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, El-Badi Palace, Morocco, Haus der Kunst, Munich, etc. Though his area of discipline is sculpture, his art practice had influenced many other creative projects within and beyond the visual arts; such as architecture, engineering etc. This paper ruminates on El Anatsui’s art practice and its influence on architecture both in context and structure. His techniques and philosophy could be seen reflecting African identity in contemporary architecture; it was also discovered that his practice has great cultural significance and contextual relevance in same.

Keywords: Professional Practice, Artistic Methodologies, Contemporary Architecture, Cultural and Contextual Influence.