… My work can represent links in the evolving narrative of memory and identity.”‘Bottle caps are more versatile than canvas and oil’: El Anatsui on turning the everyday into artAs Museums cautiously re-open across the world, “El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale” is extended El Anatsui was born in Anyanko, Ghana in 1944. Born in Ghana and based in Nigeria, El Anatsui crafts bottle caps, reused aluminum commercial packaging, copper wire, and other materials into giant shimmering sheets of what he calls “cloths.” These metallic cloths are pliable and change according to how they are displayed in a gallery.
EL ANATSUI is a Ghanaian sculptor who has spent much of his achievement packed career living and working in Nigeria. El Anatsui currently runs a very robust studio in Nsukka, Enugu, Nigeria, where some of the most beautiful and touching works of art in the world today are created. El Anatsui ([ah-nah-ch-wee], born 1944) is a Ghanaian sculptor active for much of his career in Nigeria.
Stay up to date with the latest news and updates from El AnatsuiEl Anatsui, Ancestors Starting to Converge Again, 2004“… When I create work… it is in my view a metaphor reflecting an alternative response to examine … possibilities and extend the boundaries in art. In 2015, he was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, the Venice Biennale’s highest honor.
Many of Anatsui’s sculptures are mutable in form, conceived to be so free and flexible that they can be shaped in any way and altered in appearance for each installation. More recently, he has turned to installation art. He has cut wood with chainsaws and blackened it with acetylene torches. He has drawn particular international attention for his iconic 'bottle-top' installations. He has drawn particular international attention for his "bottle-top installations". El Anatsui was born in Ghana and currently lives and works between Ghana and Nigeria. Such materials, while seemingly stiff and sturdy, are actually free and flexible, which often helps with manipulation when installing his sc… These installations consist of thousands of aluminum pieces sourcedfrom alcohol recycling stations and sewn together with copper wire, which are then transformed into metallic cloth-like wall sculptures. A critically acclaimed mixed-media artist, El Anatsui gained worldwide recognition in the early 2000s for his shimmering, monumental wall hangings, visual feasts rich with associations to Africa, Europe, and America.
Some of his works resemble woven cloths such as Anatsui said that in developing his art he looked for "something that had more relationship to me, as someone growing up in an African country".A Western art critic has said that Anatsui's bottle tops could be compared to "Anatsui's career grew gradually, starting in his home village of Anatsui has since exhibited his work around the world, including at the In 1995, Anatsui held his first solo exhibition outside of Anatsui was selected to be a member of the International Society for Education through Art (InSEA) world council in 1992 for his work in education. El Anatsui is a Ghanaian sculptor active for much of his career in Nigeria. It has taken many years to find artists who can occupy a prominent place on the global circuit while choosing to reside outside the Anatsui uses clay, wood and found objects to create sculptures based on traditional Ghanaian beliefs and other subjects. After Anatsui's move from