El Anatsui: Day after Night

Barakat Contemporary proudly presents El Anatsui: Day after Night. The exhibition, which will run from Nov 29th, 2022 to Jan 29th, 2023, is a compelling study on the materiality of light. El Anatsui returns to Korea after his first exhibition in the country in 2017, El Anatsui: Topology of Generosity, which was also presented by Barakat Contemporary.

From the broken ceramics and wooden reliefs to the monumental bottle cap sculptures, El Anatsui has experimented throughout his life on how to represent the form and potential of African sculpture in his own unique formal language that transcends sculpture and painting. His artistic scope has constantly expanded from the history of Africa to all mankind. Following the discovery and reinvention of bottle caps as a new sculptural material, El Anatsui has worked on the bottle cap sculptures since the late 90s; they are now considered a work of significance in art history. El Anatsui’s continued self-reflection, perception to details, and creative touch have allowed the objects of his works to represent their own meaning within the history of Africa. At El Anatsui: Day after Night, the artist’s second solo exhibition in Korea, Anatsui’s latest bottle cap sculptures are embroidered across the space of Barakat Contemporary, shining the light of re-creation in abstract patterns. Anatsui’s works whisper visual poems with ephemeral implications, fascinating the viewers with the indulgence of light reflecting out of the darkness.