I want to thank everyone who wrote supporting my political tirade after the inauguration (if you missed it, click here). There were also a few who weren’t so supportive and demanded to be removed from my mailing list. If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, don’t worry, I wasn’t abducted by government agents, I was down with a bout of flu. No doubt stress made me an easy target for that pesky bug.

I’m still having a difficult time focusing on anything except politics. I know I’m not alone, so I’ve devised a simple survey to find out how you are coping (or not). It doesn’t take long and I’ve tried to make it fun. The survey is anonymous (no IP addresses will be collected) and you can instantly see the results. Click here to take the survey. 

Moving on . . . I want to talk about a beautiful book, El Anatsui: Art and Life by Susan Mullin Vogel. As I mentioned before I was so rudely interrupted by the transition of power in Washington and that flu bug, I visited the Broad in Los Angeles for the first time. While I was underwhelmed by much of the collection, there were a couple of notable exceptions, one of them being El Anatsui’s Red Block.

The huge malleable fabric of woven aluminum red liquor bottle labels is wall hung, subtly folded, draped and ruched at the discretion of the curator. The effect is alchemical: humble, discarded material transformed into shimmering splendor. 

El Anatsui was born the youngest of his father’s 32 children by several wives in Ghana in 1944 and has spent most of his working life in Nigeria. He enjoys international acclaim and has work in major museums around the world. Author Susan Vogel brings together more than 150 images covering the span of Anatsui’s career and offers insight gleaned from time spent with him while directing a documentary film about the artist.

El Anatsui, Susasa II, 2007. Aluminum bottle tops, plastic liners from tops, and copper wire, 215x258in. (546.1 x 655.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. From El Anatsui: Art and Life by Susan Mullin Vogel, 2012, Prestel.

Click here to purchase El Anatsui: Art and Life from Amazon.com

You can contact me at janechafinsblog@gmail.com

Cross-posted from Jane Chafin: Offramp