EL ANATSUI (b. 1944, Anyako, Ghana) lives and works in Nsukka, Nigeria.
El Anatsui’s work draws on African history and cultural idioms, as well as Western art practices. The artist uses rigid materials to create seemingly soft and pliable cloth-like structures, combining liquor bottle tops and metal foil from bottlenecks woven together with copper wire. The resulting large-scale sculptural works vibrate and shimmer, in a way resembling classic modern abstract painting.
Anatsui has exhibited widely in both the U.S. and abroad, including at the Venice Biennale (1990/2007); the Johannesburg Biennale (1995); the Gwangju Biennale (2004); the exhibition Africa Remix, which toured Europe and Asia; and his recent solo exhibition Gawu, which toured Europe, Asia and North America. Most recently, an installation of his work was on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Anatsui is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery in New York.