Arsenale installation from the 2007 Venice Biennale

During a recent visit to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City I was struck by a 3-dimensional piece that combines the opulence of a Gustav Klimt painting and the earthy elegance of Ghanian Kente cloth. The comparison isn’t as bizarre as it might appear when it’s understood that its creator is the Ghanian artist El Anatsui. Over a decade ago the sculptor found a bag of thousands of colorful aluminum screw tops discarded by a local distillery. The artist began by cutting and folding the bottle tops into flat pieces then used copper wire to stitch them together, creating patterns inspired by his country’s iconic cloth.

Examples of the resulting chain mail like cloth now hang in museums and exhibitions worldwide. In 2011 internationally recognized African art expert Susan Vogel released a film about the artist and his work. Filmed over 3 years and 3 continents, Vogel followed the artist from exhibition space to workshop, offering an “insider’s view of the artist’s practice, the ingenious steps and thousands of hours of labor that convert used bottle tops into huge, opulent wall hangings.”

The following trailer is enough to whet an art lover’s appetite for an El Anatsui quest.