El Anatsui: Gawu April 22, 2007 to August 26, 2007 "A powerfully charged assembly, one in which the expanse, craft, and eccentric but logical shape of the work--every work--bears meaning even as it gratifies one's desire for form, pattern, and texture." Peter Frank, Angeleno, August 2007 "An optically and emotionally stunning show." Doug Harvey, LA Weekly, July 18, 2007 "A total delight and not to be missed." Edward Goldman, KCRW's Art Talk, June 26, 2007 "It's hard to think of many found-object artists who have achieved work as intricately made, culturally resonant and visually sumptuous as El Anatsui's." Raphael Rubinstein, Art in America, May 2006 "An opportunity that shouldn't be missed." Holly Myers, Los Angeles Times, April 30, 2007 El Anatsui: Gawu PhotoTour Originally from Ghana but living in Nigeria since 1975, El Anatsui is one of Africa's most influential artists, recently named by Britain's The Independent as one of the fifty greatest cultural figures shaping the continent. His work dwells on the continent's history, drawing simultaneously on traditional African idioms and contemporary western art. This exhibition includes eight large-scale works that make use of large quantities of discarded everyday objects such as bottle tops, flattened food tins, and cassava graters woven together to create magnificent sculptural 'tapestries,' which recall the Ghanaian tradition of weaving kente cloth. El Anatsui: Gawu is an Oriel Mostyn Gallery touring exhibition and was generously supported by the Arts Council of Wales. Additional funding was provided by Wales Arts International. The Los Angeles presentation was made possible in part by the Shirley & Ralph Shapiro Director’s Discretionary Fund, Margit and Lloyd Cotsen, and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. News Release Link News Release PDF