El Anatsui is a Ghanaian sculptor active for much of his career in Nigeria.
21 Facts About El Anatsui
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El Anatsui has drawn particular international attention for his "bottle-top installations".
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El Anatsui was born in Anyako, in the Volta Region of Ghana.
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The youngest of his father's 32 children, El Anatsui lost his mother and was raised by his uncle.
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El Anatsui trained at the College of Art, University of Science and Technology, in Kumasi in central Ghana.
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El Anatsui began teaching at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1975, and has become affiliated with the Nsukka group.
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William Kentridge has made his reputation from Johannesburg, and El Anatsui has conquered the planet while living and working in the Nigerian university town of Nsukka.
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William Kentridge 8.
El Anatsui's career grew gradually, starting in his home village of Nsukka before branching off to places such as Enugu and Lagos, and eventually internationally.
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In 1990, El Anatsui had his first important group show at the Studio Museum In Harlem, New York.
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El Anatsui was one of three artists singled out in the 1990 exhibition "Contemporary African Artists: Changing Traditions", which was extended for five years.
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In 1995, El Anatsui held his first solo exhibition outside of Africa in London.
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El Anatsui expressed a variety of themes and demonstrated how African art can be shown in a multitude of ways that are not seen as "typical" African.
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El Anatsui's work utilized conceptual modes used by European and American artists but hardly in African countries.
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El Anatsui showed his work at the de Young Museum in San Francisco in 2005.
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El Anatsui was invited to the Venice Biennale in 2006 and again in 2007 where he was commissioned to make two hanging metal tapestries.
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El Anatsui was selected to be a member of the International Society for Education through Art world council in 1992 for his work in education.
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El Anatsui was a founding member and fellow of the Forum for African Arts in 2000.
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El Anatsui won an honorable mention at the First Ghana National Art Competition as an undergraduate student in 1968.
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El Anatsui was selected to be one of ten artists invited to the Zweites Symposium Nordesekkuste residency in Cuxhaven, West Germany, in 1984.
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In 1990, El Anatsui was invited to the 44th annual Venice Biennale show 5 Contemporary African Artists, where he received an honorable mention.
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In 2017, El Anatsui was awarded the Praemium Imperiale, the first Ghanaian to win this international art prize.