El Anatsui
1944, Nsukka, Nigéria
El Anatsui (Anayako, Ghana, 1944) is a Ghanaian sculptor who lives and works in Nsukka, Nigeria. He graduated in Fine Arts from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, in 1969. In his work, he transforms simple, everyday materials into large-scale installations. In 2008, he won the Golden Lion in Venice for lifetime achievement.
El Anatsui has exhibited his work around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum (2013), the Clark Art Institute (2011), Rice University Art Gallery, Houston (2010), Metropolitan Museum of Art New York (2008-09), Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African Art in Washington (2008), Fowler Museum at UCLA (2007), Venice Biennale (2007), Hayward Gallery (2005), Liverpool Biennial (2002), National Museum of African Art (2001), Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (2001), 8th Osaka Sculpture Triennale (1995), 5th Gwangju Biennale (2004) and Venice Biennale (1990). These works are also in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the British Museum in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou/Musée national d’art moderne in Paris.
