El Anatsui Ghana, b. 1944
El Anatsui (b. 1944, Ghana) is a master of African contemporary art who has achieved global recognition with artistic experiments that reject the tradional conventional customs and judgements on what is sculpture. While working as an artist and educator over the past 40 years, Anatsui has contributed to broadening the horizon of art participatory in society by voicing political and historical perspectives.
Anatsui has won critical acclaim in the art world for his sculptures in which large amounts of aluminum parts obtained from recycling centers are woven together with copper wire and transformed into tapestry-like forms. His works which reuse simple materials like cast-aside objects to create works with large-scale, colorful visual effects reminds us not only of the “individual memories” of consumed objects, but is also an aesthetic practice to let us view the “collective memories” in which historical time is spent. El Anatsui’s sculptures, which draw their artistic aesthetics from ordinary, everyday life, subverts the concept of traditional sculpture, adhering to fixed forms with a flexible and non-hierarchical stance.
Currently working between Ghana and Nigeria, Anatsui’s artworks are housed in a number of institutions including the British Museum, London; Pompidou Centre, Paris; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; de Young Museum, San Francisco; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Museum Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf; and Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo. They have also been showcased at various international exhibitions including the 1990, 2007, and 2015 Venice Biennales and the 2012 Paris Triennale. Anatsui received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 Venice Biennale. In 2023, El Anatsui has created a monumental new artwork Behind the Red Moon made of thousands of metal bottle tops and fragments for Hyundai Commission at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.
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El Anatsui: Day after Night
November 29, 2022 - January 29, 2023Barakat Contemporary proudly presents El Anatsui: Day after Night. The exhibition, which will run from Nov 29th, 2022 to Jan 29th, 2023, is a compelling study on the materiality...Read more -
El Anatsui: Topology of Generosity
September 27 - November 26, 2017El Anatsui: Topology of Generosity, presented by Barakat Seoul from 27th September to 26th November 2017, sheds light on the potential of change that a single artist can generate. El...Read more
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El AnatsuiNew World Symphony, 2022Aluminium and copper wire630 x 825 cm
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El AnatsuiCadmium-Vermillion Eclipse, 2016Intaglio print with collage and chine-collé98.5 x 98.5 cm
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El AnatsuiWhite Eclipse, 2016Intaglio print with collage and chine-collé98.5 x 98.5 cm
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El AnatsuiUntitled (from the Circular Series), 2016Ink on Somerset 300gsm paper, with chine collé gold foil84.3 x 84.3 cm
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El AnatsuiDzi II, 2015Aluminum and copper wire290 x 331 cm
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El AnatsuiRehearsal, 2015Aluminum and copper wire406 x 465 cm
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El AnatsuiSkylines?, 2008Aluminum and copper wire300 x 825 cm
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El Anatsui—Day After Night
Exhibition Sketch January 7, 2023Check out our video sketch of El Anatsui’s solo exhibition in Korea, Day after Night. “El Anatsui’s tapestry (sculptural) works shimmer with red, yellow, gold...Read more -
El Anatsui—Topology of Generosity
Exhibition Sketch February 17, 2019
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《El Anatsui: After the Red Moon》 begins its global tour at the Museum of Art Pudong
October 1, 2024On 30 September 2024, the exhibition 《El Anatsui: After the Red Moon》 begins its global tour at the Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) in Shanghai,...Read more -
El Anatsui: Scottish Mission Book Depot Keta
July 2, 2024《El Anatsui / Scottish Mission Book Depot Keta》 29 Jun – 29 Sep 2024 The most significant exploration of El Anatsui’s practice ever staged in...Read more -
'Behind the Red Moon' by El Anatsui at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall
April 5, 2024Hyundai Commission: Behind the Red Moon by El Anatsui is now on view at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. El Anatsui’s Behind the Red Moon...Read more -
El Anatsui in Africa2020
December 13, 2020El Anatsui, master of contemporary African art, is participating in the project ‘Africa2020’ held across France. ‘Africa2020’ is an ambitious project designed to expand our...Read more -
"El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale" Opens in Bern
March 13, 2020Following its previous exhibitions in Doha and Munich, El Anatsui's monumental museum survey, Triumphant Scale, will be opening at Kunstmuseum Bern . The exhibition is...Read more -
El Anatsui Participates in the Second Leg of ‘Prête-moi Ton Rêve’'s 2 year African Tour
December 6, 2019‘Prête-moi Ton Rêve (Lend Me Your Dream)’ brings together 30 African artists, including El Anatsui, Abdoulaye Konaté, Chéri Samba, Jane Alexander, Ky Siriki, Ouattara Watts,...Read more -
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Commissions Work by El Anatsui Among 7 site-specific works
November 9, 2019The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston announced an opening date for its new $450 million structure designed by Steven Holl Architects. The Nancy and Rich...Read more -
"El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale" Moves to Doha
September 2, 2019After five months at Haus der Kunst in Munich, El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale is moving to the Middle East. From 1 October 2019 – 31...Read more -
‘El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale’ at Haus der Kunst
February 28, 2019Haus der Kunst is to present ‘El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale’, the largest survey of the artist’s work presented to the public to date. Alongside his...Read more -
Ghana’s Debut at Venice Biennale 2019 with El Anatsui’s New Tapestries
February 4, 2019With a pavilion designed by acclaimed architect Sir David Adjaye, Ghana is to participate for its first time at this year’s Venice Biennale 2019. The...Read more -
El Anatsui at Textile Arts Exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
November 8, 2018The exhibition ‘Common Threads: Weaving Stories Across Time’ at the Isabella Stewart Garner Museum showcases the works of artists who are redefining textile art through...Read more -
El Anatsui’s “Amemo” installed at the Detroit Institute of Arts
November 4, 2018As part of its 2018 ‘Ofrendas’ exhibition, the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) will be revealing a new acquisition, El Anatsui’s “Amemo (Mask of Humankind)”...Read more -
The 57th Edition of Carnegie International Opens with El Anatsui’s New Installation
September 26, 2018The Carnegie International, 2018 opens with El Anatsui’s new work “Three Angles” (2018) which adorns the facade of the Carnegie Museum of Art. The Ghanaian-born...Read more -
El Anatsui, New Acquisition of Weatherspoon Art Museum
June 25, 2018UNCS’s Weatherspoon Art Museum , which is known as the museums of the largest contemporary art collections with more than 6,200 works, announces its recent...Read more -
El Anatsui at MAXXI’s ‘African Metropolis: An Imaginary City’
June 22, 2018Museo Nazionale Delle Arti Del XXI Secolo (MAXXI) presets the exhibition ‘African Metropolis: An Imaginary City’, which reflects the on-going social and cultural transformations on...Read more -
El Anatsui at The Masterpieces Exhibition at NGV Co-Curated by MoMA
June 20, 2018The National Gallery of Victoria, in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art, New York, presents ‘MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary...Read more -
El Anatsui's "Change in Fortune, 2018" Featured in Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2018
June 18, 2018For the Royal Academy’s 250th Summer Exhibition “Art Made Now”, features El Anatsui’s “Change In Fortune, 2018” read more...Read more -
El Anatsui Receives the Lorenzo il Magnifico Lifetime Achievement Award
October 15, 2017Within the framework of the XIth Florence Biennale, celebrating twenty years of activity, the Lorenzo il Magnifico Lifetime Achievement Award will be bestowed El Anatsui....Read more