El Anatsui Exhibit at Museum of Art

A new exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art offers visitors an unprecedented chance to follow the 40 year career of one of Africa’s most celebrated contemporary artists.

Leoneda Inge:  When you see a striking piece of wall sculpture by Ghanaian-born artist El Anatsui, you know it. From several feet away, it looks almost like Kinte cloth.   But as you walk closer, what looked like fabric, is thousands of bottle tops and other discarded material tied together.  Anatsui spends months laying out his designs.  A film chronicles his work and is shown along with the exhibit.

El Anatsui:  With the bottle caps I don’t do any drawing, you might be making yourself a slave to an idea. I want to enjoy the freedom of shifting things around until I think they are right.

The exhibit opens Sunday at the Museum of Art in Raleigh and runs through July