Art Review of “Between

Earth and Heaven” Author: Justin Guidos

With the event at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the museum is having a gallery with special
artworks that capture the artistic abilities of those from across the country. This event displays
a famous piece, “Between Earth and Heaven” by El Anatsui.

One big sheet of aluminum and metal, almost as if it resembles a quilt, hangs from the far-left
side of the room which’s viewpoint is to two different dimensions; one between Earth and the
other between Heaven. The piece is crafted with aluminum and metal of various colors even
different bottle caps that are woven together. Anatsui decided to have the sheet hanging from
the wall to give it more of a stand out look for people to be able to capture the whole aspect of
the piece.

What is original about this piece is that all of the material was recycled pieces. Anatsui took his
time to gather as many pieces he could find and made every piece perfect to his eye. This is key
for any artist to love what you have don’t with your work. The culture with this piece is shown
as you perceive it. It rectifies the tradition of strip-woven textiles that are made in Ghana. You
won’t get a piece such as this from America. The artwork was made delicately with precision. In
order for Anatsui to be able to weave the metal together he had to make small incisions in the
pieces to make a string fit. This process is visible if you look close enough, you can see how
much time and effort this work of art took. As you glance at the magnificent work of Anatsui,
you realize the sheet has bumps throughout the piece. It almost has an ocean wave ripple
effect that emerges from the sea. With this, it gives the audience time to think about the rest of
the portion and the parts that don’t have ripples. This look is different from a piece you could
buy in a store, for you can see all the old metal and the marks of an artist throughout the piece.
This piece reminds me of an artist that goes by Nam June Paik and his piece is called Electronic
Superhighway. It reminded me of this piece because both of their pieces are installations.
Resources:

“Between Earth and Heaven.” Metmuseum.org, www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-

art/2007.96/.

“‘Between Earth and Heaven’: El Anatsui and the Art of African Textiles.” Metmuseum.org,
THE MET, 29 June 2011, 01:25:34,
www.metmuseum.org/metmedia/video/collections/aaoa/sam-el-anatsui.

Metmuseum.org, www.metmuseum.org/.