"Lines that Link Humanity"

World renowned Kenyan sculptor El Anatsui said “Art is a reflection on life. Life isn’t something we can cut and fix. It’s always in a state of flux.”. Each of El Anatsui’s pieces of artwork move and change with each display, altering the emotions they invoke in an audience. "Lines that Link Humanity" is a large sculpture composed from recycled bottle caps and scrap metal linked together using copper wire. As individuals the pieces of metal are nothing more than junk, yet when together they become a powerful expression of humanity and the possibility in the everyday things that we throw in the garbage. El Anatsui uses his artwork to conveying hope to things that have none and show similarities in opposites of artistic, social and environmental issues."Lines that Link Humanity" uses commonplace materials to the defeat long held belief that abstract art is only for the elite while using different colors and their separation to represent social divides among races. Additionally, El Anatsui relates all of humanity to the environment by using different skin tone colored recycled bottle caps for the construction.

The admirers of abstract art have long been an elite group which believed that they had enhanced senses and capacity to appreciate the unconventional aspects. El Anatsui challenges this long lived fact with the creation of spectacular abstract pieces from the heart of Africa. The abstract art community has changed with the help of El Anatsui’s eye opening depictions of boundary crushing art pieces. In the article “The Audience for Abstract Art: Class, Culture, and Power” by David Halle, he quotes Ortega y Gasset who said “because abstract art had eliminated the human element that attracted the masses, it could be appreciated only by a minority who possess special gifts of artistic sensibility”. In Halle’s analysis of the issue, he stated that those who think abstract art is for the upper social classes believe that the educational system, particularly higher education, gives students the capacity to appreciate higher arts. Halle went on to say that no real studies have been done to determine what happens in someone's mind when they look at a piece of abstract art, therefore there is no true way of determining what social class is more capable of deciphering it. Halle concludes that the capacity to decipher abstract art is not a matter of intelligence yet of interest and exposure. This viewpoint is similar to that of El Anatsui, who creates abstract pieces of art out of trash from the street. El Anatsui is exposing the beauty of abstract art to his people through the use of something they have all experienced and understand. Through creating such a respectable piece abstract art out of commonplace materials, El Anatsui effectively defeats the stereotypical abstract art audience while still gaining the respect of the elite art critics. "Lines that Link Humanity" defeats stereotypes held by society and blends opposite sides of spectrums in artistic, social and environmental manners.

El Anatsui’s use of skin tone colors and their separation in "Lines that Link Humanity" changes the entire impression that he is trying to convey and also the emotions a viewer constructs on their own. The importance of color is especially true in abstract art, which is the representation of emotions and ideas through a medium without depicting any people, places or things even in distorted ways. Since no images can be used, the color, lines and shapes make abstract artwork unique in how the genre conveys emotions. In the article “What is Abstract Art?” the author says that each color carries a unique tone and emotion to conveys to a viewer. In "Lines that Link Humanity" the use of color to portray a deeper meaning is very evident. The colors yellow, white, and brown are most prevalent which relates to the skin tones of the world, all together on the same canvas yet separated. I imagine the entire canvas representing the world and each group of color representing a nation or race. These different races are segregated and separated from the others, even though they are all created from the same material and share the same canvas. "Lines that Link Humanity" has the physical properties of a piece of fabric in the manner that it can fold and wrinkle even though it is made of metal. This enables the piece to seem to flow like a liquid, creating shadows, valleys, and mountains. These features give the art texture and depth that lets us further connect it to the physical characteristics of the world. Differences in elevation are present throughout the entire piece just like on earth. The shadowing gives the colors different shades and purposes. These different shades of colors and differences in elevation show that not all humans are the same, we are all each beautifully unique.

Each bottle cap that went into the construction of "Lines that Link Humanity" was touched by many different hands, and lived a life of its own until it was recycled. El Anatsui’s choice of bottle caps and small pieces of metal as a medium for such a large sculpture as “Lines that Link Humanity” is interesting, respectful, and impressive. Measuring 18 x 25 feet and weighing in at 120 pounds, the sculpture has an overwhelming presence. Standing beside such a large sculpture which is essentially a wall of bottle caps, one begins to appreciate the time and effort put into the construction. When looking at the sculpture, not only are you looking at tens of thousands of bottle caps, but tens of thousands of lives lived by those bottle caps. From production, to purchase, to use and finally disregard, each bottle cap now has a much more important role in its life. Each bottle cap is important in the design as it is linked to at least 4 others all around it. Similar to a Roman Phalanx or chainmail armor, "Lines that Link Humanity" shows unity between individual pieces to achieve a much larger and impressive goal than could ever be achieved in isolation. If you were to imagine the whole sculpture to be all humans, no matter the color of the piece it is still important to the structural integrity. "Lines that Link Humanity" shows the importance of individual pieces in a structure just like individual people are important in humanity. Each metal piece of the sculpture represents a human in the fabric of the world society. If all humans bind together and make one large structure without rifts, we can achieve great feats just like the once garbage in El Anatsui's "Lines that Link Humanity".

Garbage is being born again in a new form of art known as the recycle or reuse art movement, in which El Anatsui is playing a major role. In todays world trash is a part of life that we choose to disregard intentionally as if it had zero value. The recycle art movement is working to show the exact opposite, the fact that even trash can be made into powerful, influential and impressive pieces of art. Annette Labedzki says recycle art is “an art form that uses old or used items or day to day trash to create something which is brand-new, attractive, and useful in most cases.” A major part of the recycle movement is the idea of being resourceful and using what is at hand. El Anatsui is a master at using the materials around him to create art, which also allows him to connect to a larger crowd. Labedzki also says there are many advantages to using recycled materials as medium for art which include saving money, saving landfill space and preserving the environment. The recycle art movement stemmed from the environmental art movement which seeks to improve human relationships with the environment. El Anatsui has always used common everyday materials such as clay, wood, cloth and in the case of "Lines that Link Humanity" metal and bottle caps. This use of trash makes people realize the potential in the common items they touch each day. Using recycled materials causes people to respect trash and in turn be more responsible with their recycling habits. Ultimately El Anatsui’s use of recycled materials causes a positive impact on the earths environment.

El Anatsui’s unique style of blending abstract qualities with the recycle methods in a grand scale is very evident in "Lines that Link Humanity". The sculpture defeats the stereotypical abstract art audience as it is appealing, relatable and impressive to even the poorest and least educated people. Humanity and its divides, valleys and shadows are portrayed in "Lines that Link Humanity" through the color change, light change and 3D display the art features. All of Humanity is represented in the skin tone colors and their different shades on a piece made of recycled trash. Even though the piece represents the divides between people, it also represents the unity and camaraderie of all humans in achieving a larger more important goals. The use of bottle caps is the common denominator uniting all races and the earth into one category represented by the sculpture. "Lines that Link Humanity" provides a visual representation of the importance of racial and social cooperation with the earths health being motivation. El Anatsui’s uses his ability to create powerful pieces of art in order to show the connections between everyday people and art critics, as well as different races and the planet earth.


Sources -

Lamont, Miche. "Audience for Abstract Art: Class, Culture and Power." Cultivating Differences: Symbolic Boundaries and the Making of Inequality. Vol. 6. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1992.Print. <https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=raPbbFuYOG4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA131&dq=meanings+of+abstract+art&ots=CY6F3JkTWH&sig=9VuEuUoabeydTHMEQfeCPCoxVlw#v=onepage&q=meanings%20of%20abstract%20art&f=false >

Gersh-Nesic, Beth. "What Is Abstract Art? - Definition and Examples." About Education. Web. 6 Apr. 2015. <http://arthistory.about.com/od/glossary_a/a/a_abstract_art.htm>.

Labedzki, Annette. "Recycled Art - The Creativity & the Junk!" Enzine Articles. 29 Aug. 2008. Web. 6 Apr. 2015. <http://ezinearticles.com/?Recycled-Art---The-Creativity-and-the-Junk!&id=1453442>

Pritchard, Ashley. "Quotes from the El Anatsui Logan Lecture." Denver Art Museum. 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. <http://denverartmuseum.org/article/staff-blogs/quotes-el-anatsui-logan-lecture>.

Hurt, Perry. "El Anatsui Wall Sculpture: Adventures in Handling, Installation, and Display." PACCIN. 9 Mar. 2011. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. <http://www.paccin.org/content.php?188-El-Anatsui-Wall-Sculpture-Adventures-in-Handling-Installation-and-Display-Part-1>.