El Anatsui’s name might be unfamiliar, but the Ghanian-born artist’s monumental, intricately constructed wall hangings are wowing museum visitors worldwide these days.
“They’ve become an international sensation,” said Nancy Blomberg, Denver Art Museum’s curator of native arts.
Anatsui’s “Rain Has No Father?” was being readied Tuesday for display. It is one of 17 large-scale contemporary works on view during “Embrace!”
The exhibition opens Nov. 14 and runs through April 4.
The piece stretches 13 feet tall and 19 feet wide. (Carmelo Anthony, by comparison, stands 6 feet, 8 inches, so that’s roughly two and three times his height.) It is constructed from thousands of multicolored foil strips from the tops of liquor bottles — rectangles about 1 inch by 3 or 4 inches.
It will be suspended in front of a slanting wall in the African gallery on the third floor of the museum’s Hamilton Building.
Blomberg said the wall hanging is the largest and most significant work acquired so far as part of an initiative led by board member Daniel Yohannes to boost the museum’s contemporary African holdings. Funding came from multiple private sources, including about 20 individuals.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
