Wednesday, May 18, 2011

El Anatsui at the Clark

Stone Hill Center. Photos: Richard Lacayo
For students and admirers of El Anatsui's work here's a new small book coming out soon. It is published by the Yale Univ. Press in connection with the fabulous exhibition of El's work at the Clark Institute's stunning, brand new Stone Hill Center designed by the Pritzker-winning, Japanese architect Tadao Ando. (This is the second ever show of work by a contemporary artist--after Juan Muñoz last year--at The Clark). El and I were at the Clark early in April (yes it still snowed in Williamstown!) to plan the installation of the three majestic sculptures, including Intermittent Signals (2009) from the Broad Art Foundation collection. Having just returned from the Clark about a week ago, with the installation nearly complete, I could not help but imagine what difference space and thoughtful installation can do to our experience of El's work, or any work of art for that matter. It is as if Ando designed the galleries for El! Or rather, El's work completes the dramatic dialog Ando imagined between the building and the verdant, mountainous Berkshire landscape.

El Anatsui at the Clark - LaGamma, Alisa; Okeke-Agulu, Chika - Yale University Press

2 comments:

Nancy Natale said...

Thanks for posting about this show. It sounds superb. I am planning to see it and be there for the showing on July 24th of Carol Vogel's film about Anatsui. I will link to your blogpost on my Art in the Studio.

The Clark said...

Thank you for the shout-out, Chika! We were so happy to have you at the Clark, and we can't wait for this exhibition to open. The video interview is fabulous.