Brahim
El Anatsui

Brahim
El Anatsui

Ghanaian, born in 1944


El Anatsui’s work is characterised by extensive experimentation with materials that convey his belief that “nothing is truly able to express everything there is to say about the world.”

Having spent a long time working with wood and clay, the Ghanaian artist went on to create vast works made from recovered materials. Transforming thousands of bottle tops into giant glistening embroidered sheets, Anatsui references both abstract art and indigenous textiles. In the artist’s own words, each of his installations is “one specific manifestation of an on-going process – like life itself, which is in a constant state of flux.” The first creations made with these bottle tops, Woman’s Cloth and Man’s Cloth, became the springboard for his international career after they were shown for the first time in London in 2002.

The works of El Anatsui in the Pinault Collection were first presented at the Palazzo Grassi as part of the "Le Monde vous appartient" (“The World Belongs to You”) exhibition (2011-2012).
Brahim El Anatsui's artwork