EL ANATSUI

(b. 1944 Anyako, Ghana)

EL ANATSUI is a Ghanaian sculptor who has spent much of his achievement packed career living and working in Nigeria, where he currently maintains his studio. He is one of the most highly acclaimed artists in African History and foremost contemporary artists in the world.

 An alumnus of the College of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, Anatsui holds a BA (Art) as well as a post-graduate diploma in Art and Education (1969). For many years he was Professor of Sculpture and, latterly, Departmental Head at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

 El Anatsui uses resources typically discarded such as liquor bottle caps and cassava graters to create sculpture that defies categorisation. His use of these materials reflects his interest in reuse, transformation, and an intrinsic desire to connect to his continent while transcending the limitations of place. His work can interrogate the history of colonialism and draw connections between consumption, waste, and the environment, but at the core is his unique formal language that distinguishes his practice.

 Anatsui is well-known for large scale sculptures composed of thousands of folded and crumpled pieces of aluminium bottle caps sourced from local alcohol recycling stations and bound together with copper wire. These intricate works, which can grow to be massive in scale, are luminous and weighty, meticulously fabricated yet malleable. He leaves the installations open and encourages the works to take new forms every time they are installed.

 El Anatsui was born in 1944 in Anyako, Ghana, a citizen of the Ewe Nation and son of a master weaver of Kente cloth. He acquired art training at the College of Art, University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, one of the highest-ranking universities in Ghana. In 1975, when he had graduated from the university, El began teaching at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, as a Professor of Sculpture. He has taught at UNN for over four decades.

 As a member of the faculty at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, El Anatsui began to incorporate Uli and Nsibidi of south-eastern Nigeria into his work alongside his indigenous Adinkra symbols and other Ghanaian motifs and ideographic and logographic symbolism. He soon after became affiliated with Nsukka Group, a group with a shared vision to revive the practice of Uli and incorporate its designs into contemporary art.

 El Anatsui’s works can be found amongst some of the most prestigious art collections in the world including permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; The Museum of Modern Art, NY; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; The British Museum; the Vatican Museum and many more.

SELECTED AWARDS

2017        Praemium Imperiale Award for Sculpture, The Japan Art Association, Tokyo, Japan
                Lorenzo il Magnifico Lifetime Achievement Award, XIth Florence Biennale Florence, Italy
                Brandywine Workshop and Archives Lifetime Achievement Award, Philadelphia, USA

2016        Honorary Doctor of Arts, 365th Commencement Ceremony, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,
               USA Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA), 2016 graduation ceremonies, The University of Cape Town (UCT),
               South Africa

2015        Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award, 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

2014       Elected Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA, USA

                Elected Honorary Academician, British Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

                2nd Best Monographic Museum Show in New York category, AICA-USA, “Gravity and Grace:
                Works by El Anatsui”, Brooklyn Museum, NY, USA

2013        Charles Wollaston Award, 245th Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

2009        30th Anniversary Award, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C. USA

                Prince Claus Award, Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, Lagos, Nigeria

2008        Visionaries Award, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY, USA

1999        Public’s Prize, 7th Small-Scale Sculpture Triennial, Stuttgart, Germany

1998        Bronze Prize, 9th Sculpture Triennial, Osaka, Japan

1995        Kansai Telecasting Corporation Prize, 3rd Sculpture Triennial, Osaka, Japan

1990        Honorable Mention, 44th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020        Focus on El Anatsui, October Gallery, London
                El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale, Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland

2019        El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale, Arab Museum of Modern Art (MATHAF), Doha, Qatar
                El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale, Haus Der Kunst, Munich, Germany
                El Anatsui: Recent Works, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, New Mexico, USA
                El Anatsui: Material Wonder, October Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2018        El Anatsui: Proximately, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Wijnegem, Belgium
                Ofrendas, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, USA
                El Anatsui: MEYINA, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
                The Beginning and the End, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium

2017        El Anatsui: Proximately, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Wijnegem, Belgium
                El Anatsui:  Topology of Generosity, Bakarat Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
                El Anatsui: MEYINA, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
                El Anatsui: MEYINA, Prince Claus Fund Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
                El Anatsui: Benchmarks, Royal Academy of Arts, Mayfair, London / October Gallery, Bloomsbury,
                London (London: 2017)

2016-2017
                El Anatsui: MEYINA, Prince Claus Fund Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2016        Afrikas stjerne – Monumentale værker af El Anatsui (Star of Africa – Monumental works by El Anatsui,                                                   
                Trapholt Museum for Moderne Kunst, South Jutland, Denmark
                El Anatsui: New Works, October Gallery, London, UK
                El Anatsui: Five Decades, Carriageworks, Sydney Festival 2016, Sydney, Australia

2015        El Anatsui – Selected Works, October Gallery, London, UK
                El Anatsui Of Dzi, Kunstbanken Hedmark, Kunstsenter, Hamar, Norway
                El Anatsui: Five Decades, The School – Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, NY, USA
                Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works By El Anatsui, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, CA,
               USA 

2014        El Anatsui: New Worlds, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, Mount Holyoke, MA, USA
                El Anatsui: Trains of Thought, Jack Shainman Gallery, NY, USA
                El Anatsui: Playing with Chance, Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria
                El Anatsui-Theory of Se, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong, China
                Metas, Mnuchin Gallery, NY, USA

2012 – 2015
                Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui, Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH, USA
                Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, USA
                Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui, Des Moines Art Center, IA, USA
                Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui, Bass Museum of Art, Miami, FL, USA
                Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego,
               San Diego, CA, USA

2013        El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor,
                MI, USA
                Tsiatsia – Searching for Connection, Royal Academy of Arts, London 

2012 – 2013
                Broken Bridge II, the High Line, NY, USA
                Pot of Wisdom, Jack Shainman Gallery, NY, USA

 

2012        El Anatsui: Stitch in Time, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium 

2011        El Anatsui, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, USA

2010 – 2012
                El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa, Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH, USA
                El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada
                El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa, Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA
                El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa, Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas,Austin,TX, USA
                El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, USA
                El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa, Denver Art Museum, CO, USA
                El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

2010 – 2011
                A Fateful Journey, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan
                A Fateful Journey, The Museum of Modern Art, Hayama, Japan
                A Fateful Journey, Tsuruoka Art Forum, Yamagata, Japan
                A Fateful Journey, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan

2010        El Anatsui: Gli (Wall), Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA
                El Anatsui: Wall Sculptures, Jack Shainman Gallery, NY, USA

2009        El Anatsui (Off the Grid: 2009 Surface Design Association Conference), Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, MO, USA
                El Anatsui: Process and Project, BRIC Arts | Media House, Brooklyn, NY, USA

2008        Earth Growing Roots, San Diego State University Art Gallery, San Diego, CA, USA
                Zebra Crossing, Jack Shainman Gallery, NY, USA 

2006        El Anatsui: Asi, David Krut Projects, NY, USA, in collaboration with October Gallery, London, UK
                El Anatsui: Nyekor, Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Milan, Italy, in collaboration with October Gallery, London, UK 

2005-2006
                Danudo: Recent Sculptures of El Anatsui, Skoto Gallery in collaboration with Contemporary African Art Gallery,
                NY, USA

2005        El Anatsui, October Gallery, London, UK 

2003–2008
                El Anatsui: Gawu, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales, UK
                El Anatsui: Gawu, Model Arts & Niland Gallery, Sligo, Ireland
                El Anatsui: Gawu, Gallery Oldham, Oldham, Greater Manchester, UK
                El Anatsui: Gawu, October Gallery, London, UK

                El Anatsui: Gawu, Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham, UK
                El Anatsui: Gawu, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL, USA
                El Anatsui: Gawu, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
                El Anatsui: Gawu, Fowler Museum, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
                El Anatsui: Gawu,University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ, USA
                El Anatsui: Gawu, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., USA

2002        El Anatsui: Recent Works, October Gallery, London, UK

1998        A Sculpted History of Africa, October Gallery, London, UK

1997        Hakpa, French Cultural Centre, Lagos, Nigeria

1995        El Anatsui: Sculptures and Reliefs, October Gallery, London, UK

1993        So Far: Drawings, Paintings, Prints 1963–1993, Italian Cultural Institute, Lagos, May 8–22, 1993

1991        Old and New: An Exhibition of Sculpture in Assorted Wood, National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria 

1987        Venovize: Ceramic Sculpture by El Anatsui, Faculty of Art and Design Gallery, Cornwall College, Redruth, UK
                Pieces of Wood: An Exhibition of Mural Sculpture, The Franco-German Auditorium, Lagos, Nigeria

1982        Sculptures, Photographs, Drawings, Goethe-Institut, Lagos, Nigeria

1980        Wood Carvings, Cummington Community of Arts, Cummington, Massachusetts, USA

1979        Broken Pots: Sculpture by El Anatsui, British Council, Enugu, Nigeria
                Broken Pots: Sculpture by El Anatsui, Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria 

1976        Wooden Wall Plaques, Asele Art Gallery, Nsukka, Nigeria

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

 

2021        The Met Unframed, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

                A National Treasure: Fred Meijer, His Collection and Legacy, Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park,
                Grand Rapids, Michigan

 

2020-2021

                Making the Met, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

                Second Careers: Two Tributaries in African Art, Cleveland Museum of Art

                252nd Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London

                Grace Before Jones: Camera, Disco, Studio, Nottingham Contemporary, UK

 

2020        Atmospheres: Artists of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London

                Re-Materialize, Arthur Ross Gallery, Pennsylvania University

                IMPART Collectors’ Show 2020, School of the Arts’ (SOTA), Singapore

 

2019-2020

                Layers, LaBanque Art Center, Béthune France

 

2019        I’ve Grown Roses in This Garden of Mine – Group Show, Goodman Gallery, London

                In the Absence of Light: Gesture, Humor and Resistance in the Black Aesthetic, Stony Island Arts Bank, Chicago

                Listen to the Hum, Alice Black, London

                251st Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Art, London

                The Moon, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

                The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement, The Phillips Collection, Washington DC

                Prête-moi ton Rêve [Lend me Your Dream], Maison de l’Union, Casablanca, Morocco

                Prête-moi ton Rêve [Lend me Your Dream], Dakar, Senegal

                Frieze New York, Randall’s Island Park, New York

                Infinitive Mutability, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong

                El Anatsui: Cire Perdue, Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire

                Investec: Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

                The Crime of Mr Adolf Loos, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Belgium

                El Anatsui: Cire Perdue, Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, France

                Ex Africa: Storie e Identità di un’Arte Universale, Archaeological Civic Museum, Bologna

                Intimate Immensity, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia

                The Light Show, Denver Art Museum, Denver

                New to the Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

                Biennale Arte 019, Venice

 

2018-2019

                South South/Between Land and Sea: I don’t understand what you’re talking about but I know what you mean,
                Goodman Gallery, Cape Town

                Common Threads: Weaving Stories Across Time, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, USA

                MAD Collects: The Future of Craft Part 1, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, United States

                Museum Collection III – All of the Contemporary Art Collection, Setagaya Art Museum, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan

 

2018        Joburg Art Fair, Sandton Convention Center, Johannesburg, South Africa

                Summer 2018, Mnuchin Gallery, NY, USA

                Domestic Alien, Gazelli Art House, Baku, Azerbaijan

                Feedback: Art, Africa and the 1980s, Iwalewahaus, Bayreuth, Gemany

                Carnegie International, 57th Edition, 2018, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

                Transvangarde: Leading Contemporary Artists, October Gallery, London, UK

                250th Summer Exhibition: Art Made Now, Royal Academy of Arts, London UK

                Art Brussels, 2018, Brussels, Belgium

                Dak’Art Biennale 2018, Dakar Senegal

                Exhibition by the Masters, Desiderata, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos

                Masterpiece London, Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London

                All Things Being Equal…, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa

                BRAFA Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium

                Resignifications, ZAC – Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Sicily, Italy

                Second Life, MACAAL, Marrakech, Morocco

                Art Basel, Hong Kong

                Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami Beach Convention Center, Florida

                MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria,
                Southbank, Australia

                African Metropolis: An Imaginary City, Museo Nazionale Delle Arti Del XXI Secolo (MAXXI), Rome

                Private Exhibition of Seth Dei  Collection, Residence of the British High Commissioner in Accra, Ghana

                Parking on Pavement, The School-Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, NY, USA

                Local/Global, Madelyn Jordon Fine Art, New York

 

2017-2018

                Domestic Alien, Gazelli Art House, London

                The Coffins of Paa Joe…, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

 

2017        Les Eclaireur: Sculpteurs d’Afrique, Palais de Papes, Avignon, France

                Domestic Alien, Gazelli Art House, London

                Three Dimensions: Modern and Contemporary Approaches to Relief And Sculpture, Acquavella Galleries,
                New York

                A Journey: El Anatsui, Anish Kapoor And Jannis Kounellis, Kewenig Galerie, Berlin

                Afrique Capitales: Cape of Good Hope Here We Come, Gare Saint Sauveur, Lille, France

                La Terra Inquieta/ The Restless Earth, Palazzo de la Triennale, Milan, Italy

                Summer Exhibition 2017, Burlington House, London

                Intuition, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy

                El Anatsui: Ugwu, Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, France

 

2016-2017

                African Artists as Innovators, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, California

 

2016        Art Basel, Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland

                Marrakech Biennale 6: Not New Now, Marrakech, Morocco

                Of A Different Nature, Jack Shainman Gallery, NY, USA

                Chaumont-Sur-Loire Arts and Nature program, 2016, The Domaine of Chaumont-sur-Loire
               [The Chateau and theCentre of Arts & Nature], France

                Green Pastures: In Memory of Thornton Dial, Sr., High Museum, Atlanta, GA, USA

                The Woven Arc, Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art, (The Hutchins Center for African
                and African American Research), Harvard University- Cambridge, MA, USA

                Summer Exhibition 2016, Royal Academy of Arts, UK

                12th Edition of Dak’Art, Dakar, Senegal

                African Artists as Innovators, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, California

                Festival International des Jardins: Gardens from the Coming Century, Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire,
                France

                Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, Centre de Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona (CCCB),
                Spain

 

2015-2019

                Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona [CCCB],
                Spain

                Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain

                Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany

 

2015-2016

                Embracing Space and Colour: Wall and Ceiling Mounted Sculpture, Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL,
                USA

                Us Is Them, The Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH, USA

                I See Myself in You: Selections from the Collection, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA

 

2015        The Contemporary 2: Who Interprets the World, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan

                El Anatsui, 2015, Farmyard Le Fenil Gallery, The Domaine of Chaumont-sur-Loire [The Chateau and the Centre
                of Arts & Nature], France

                Africa Africans, Museu Afro Brazil, Sao Paulo, Brazil

                El Anatsui: Five Decades, The School – Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, NY, USA

                Piece Work, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT., USA

                Atopolis, Wiels in collaboration with Mons 2015, Manège de Sury, Mons, (Contemporary Art Centre in Brussels)
                Belgium

                Meet Me Halfway: Selections from The Anita Reiner Collection, Cristin Tierney Gallery, New York, NY, USA

                247th Summer Exhibition, 2015, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

                Field, Road, Cloud: Art and Africa, Anna K. Meredith Gallery, Des Moines Art Centre, Des Moines, IA, USA

                Embracing Space and Color: Art On & Off the Wall, Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL, USA

                Re:Purposed, The John & Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, State Art Museum of Florida, Florida State University,
                Sarasota, FL, USA

                PROPORTIO, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy

                The Contemporary 2: Who Interprets the World? 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan

                Standing and Hanging, Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco, California

                Necessary Force: Art in the Police State, University of New Mexico Art Museum, USA

                Status Quo, The School, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York

 

2014        246th Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, UK

                Mise En Scène, The School – Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, NY, USA

                The Art of Our Time: Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collections, Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain

                Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa, Fowler Museum, UCLA, USA

                Dak’Art Biennale, Dakar, Senegal

 

2013        245th Summer Exhibition, installation of sculpture on the façade of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

                Chosen, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY, USA

                Brodsky Center Gala 2013: Honouring El Anatsui and Alexandre Arrechea, Cedar Lake Theatre, New York, NY,
                USA

                ArtZuid 2013, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

                Masters of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK

                Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art,
                Washington, D.C., USA

                Art and Textiles, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany

                Through the Eyes of Texas: Masterworks from Alumni, Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, USA

                The Poetic Line, Makerere Art Gallery/Institute of Heritage Conservation and Restoration, University of Makarere,
                Kampala, Uganda

 

2012        El Gran Sur, 1st Montevideo Biennial, Montevideo, Uruguay

                18th Biennale of Sydney: All Our Relations, Sydney, Australia

                La Triennale: Intense Proximity, Palais de Tokyo/ Musée Galliera, Paris, France

                African Cosmos: Stellar Art, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., USA

                Dialogues with Contemporary Art, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

                We Face Forward, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK

                Summer Exhibition 2012, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (Façade of the Burlington House)

                Environment and Object: Recent African Art, Middlebury College Museum of Art, Vermont, USA

 

2011 – 2012

                Architectural Environments for Tomorrow: New Spatial Practices in Architecture and Art, Museum of
               Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan

 

2011

                The World Belongs to You, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

                ARS 11, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland

                Hunters and Gatherers: The Art of Assemblage, Sotheby’s, NY, USA

                The Splendour of Truth, The Beauty of Charity, The Vatican, Rome, Italy

                The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio TX,
                USA

                As It Is! Africa Applauded, The Mojo Gallery, Dubai

                Environment and Object: Recent African Art, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at
                Skidmore College, NY, USA

                Environment and Object: Recent African Art, Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University,
                 Richmond, VA, USA

                Africa Interweave: Textile Diasporas, The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida

 

2010-2011

                The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, Nobel Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

 

2010

                Who Knows Tomorrow, Alte National Galerie, Berlin, Germany

                Human Rites, The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL, USA

                A Collective Diary, an African Contemporary Journey, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya,
               Israel

                The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania

 

2009-2010

                The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida
                International University, Miami, FL, USA

 

2009

                3rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art – Against Exclusion, 3rd Moscow Biennale, Moscow, Russia

                Intramoenia Extra Art – On the Ground, Underground, Castelli di Puglia, Barletta Castle, Barletta, Italy

                Chance Encounters: Seven Contemporary African Artists, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India

                Transvangarde: Leading Contemporary Artists, October Gallery, London, UK

                Confines Extremos. Confines Urbanos, Institut Valencia D’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain

                Off the Grid, Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, MO, USA

                Homecoming, Artists Alliance Gallery, Accra, Ghana

                Promoter-of- Nigerian-Art Series, Goethe Institute, Lagos, Nigeria

                Embrace!, Denver Art Museum, CO, USA

                The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, Fundación Canal, Madrid, Spain

 

2008        Masterpieces of Modern Design: Selections from the Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, USA

                Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, Museum for Arts and Design, NY, USA

                The Poetics of Cloth: African Textiles, Grey Art Gallery, NY, USA

                The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, USA

                Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, Museum for Arts and Design, NY, USA

                World Histories, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA, USA

                Angaza Afrika: African Art Now, October Gallery, London, UK

                Recycling: The Whole House, Kunstbanken Hedmark Kunstsenter, Hamar, Norway

                Juego Africano de lo Contemporáneo: Pre-figuraciones Postcoloniales, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo
                Unión Fenosa (MACUF), A Coruña, Spain

                The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, Hillside Terrace Galleries, Daikanyama, Tokyo, Japan

                Prospect.1 New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

                Sonsbeek 2008: Grandeur, Sonsbeek Park, Arnhem, The Netherlands

 

2007        Artempo – Where Art Becomes Time, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy

                Think with the Senses, Feel with the Mind: Art in the Present Tense (52nd Venice Biennale), Arsenale,
                Venice, Italy

                Uncomfortable Truths: The Shadow of Slave Trading on Contemporary Art, Victoria and Albert Museum,
                London, UK

                Tapping Currents: Contemporary African Art and the Diaspora, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City,
                MO, USA

                Un/Fair Trade: The Art of Justice, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria

                From Courage to Freedom, October Gallery, London, UK

                Living Masters, Terra Culture, Lagos, Nigeria

                The Boys Craft, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel

                8th Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE

                Afrika Remix, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

                Art for AIDS/Art Carte, Geneva, Switzerland

 

2006 – 2011

                The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, Rubin Museum of Art, NY, USA

                The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, Visual Arts Gallery, Emory University,
                Atlanta, GA, USA

                The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts,
                San Francisco, CA, USA

 

2006

                Altered, Stitched and Gathered, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) NY, USA

                DAK’ART 2006, 7th Biennale of African Art, Dakar, Senegal

                -poiesis, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY, USA

                Europe-Afrique: Regards Croisés, Ateliers des Tanneurs, Brussels, Belgium

                Black Panther Rank and File, Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, USA

                Primitivism Revisited: After the End of an Idea, Sean Kelly Gallery, NY, USA

                Expanding Africa: New Art, New Directions, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, USA

                Body of Evidence, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., USA

                The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History,
                Los Angeles, CA, USA

                The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, IL,
                USA

 

2005        In the Making: Materials and Process, Michael Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

                Out There, Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, Norwich, UK

                AKA . . . of Age 2005, Maison de France, Lagos, Nigeria

                De Young Museum, DeYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA

 

2004 – 2007           Afrika Remix, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany

                Afrika Remix, Hayward Gallery, London, UK

                Afrika Remix, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

                Afrika Remix, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

                Afrika Remix, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

                Afrika Remix, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

                 

2004        A Grain of Dust, A Drop of Water, 5th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea

                Intelligence Now!, October Gallery, London, UK

 

2003        Africa Informs, October Gallery, London, UK

                Biennale of Ceramics in Contemporary Art, Villa Groppallo, Vado Ligure, Italy

                Transfer(t)s, Palais de Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium

                Homage to Asele, National Museum Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria

                Selected Works, Skoto Gallery, NY, USA

                 

2002        The Independents, Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art, Liverpool, UK

 

2001–2002

                The Happy Face of Globalization, 1st Albissola Ceramics Biennale, Albissola, Italy;
                Musée Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland

 

2001

                El Tiempo de Africa, Centro Atlantico Arte Moderno, Las Palmas, Canary Islands; Consejería de Cultura
                de Comunidad, Madrid, Spain

                Encounters with the Contemporary, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., USA

                Africas: The Artist and the City, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), Barcelona, Spain

                News from the Front, October Gallery, London, UK

                Jazz and Visual Improvisations, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY, USA

                Ebony Soliloquy: A Five Year Retrospective (1996–2001), Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans, LA, USA

                Messagers de la Terre, Rur’Art– Espace d’Art Contemporain d’Lycée Agricole Xavier Bernard, Rouille, France

 

1999

                New Colours From Old Worlds, October Gallery, London, UK

                The Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK

                Les Champs de la Sculpture, Champs Elysées, Paris, France

                Contemporary Art from West Africa, October Gallery, London, UK

 

1998

                7 Triennale der Kleineplastik, Stuttgart, Germany

                9th Osaka Sculpture Triennale, Osaka, Japan

                Riddle of the Spirits – Twelve African Artists, Skoto Gallery, NY, USA

 

1997

                The Poetics of Line: Seven Artists of the Nsukka Group, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art,
                Washington D.C., USA

                Free Form and Precision, Contemporary African Art Gallery, NY, USA

 

1996

                Container ’96: Art Across Oceans, Langelinie, Copenhagen, Denmark

                Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK

                Images of Africa, Torpedohallen, Copenhagen, Denmark

                Africana, Sala 1, Rome, Italy

                Transforms, October Gallery, London, UK

                Group Exhibition, Avant-Garde Gallery, Kaduna, Nigeria

                El Anatsui & Tesfaye Tessema, Contemporary African Gallery, NY, USA

                El Anatsui & Sol Le Witt, Skoto Gallery, NY, USA

 

1995 – 1996

                An Inside Story – African Art of our Time, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

                An Inside Story – African Art of our Time, Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Tokushima, Japan

                An Inside Story – African Art of our Time, Himeji City Museum of Arts, Himeji, Japan

                An Inside Story – African Art of our Time, Koriyama City Museum of Art, Koriyama, Japan

                An Inside Story – African Art of our Time, Marugame Inokuma-Genichiro Museum of Contemporary
                Art (MIMOCA),Marugame, Japan

                An Inside Story – African Art of our Time, Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan

 

1995

                AKA ’95, Bona Gallery, Enugu, Nigeria

                AKA ’95, Didi Museum, Lagos, Nigeria

                Contemporary African Art, World Intellectual Property Organisation Headquarters, Geneva,
                Switzerland

                6th Osaka Sculpture Triennale, Osaka, Japan

                Seven Stories about Modern Art in Africa, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK

                Seven Stories about Modern Art in Africa, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden

                Configura 2, Dialog der Kulturen, Erfurt, Germany

                The Right to Hope, Johannesburg Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa -touring to Cairo, Egypt;
                Amman, Jordan; Gaza, Isreal; Jerusalem, Isreal; Tel Aviv, Isreal

                Africus, 1st Johannesburg Biennale, Johannesburg, South Africa

                Uli Art– Master Works, Skoto Gallery, NY, USA

 

1994        Arte/ Sociedad/ Reflexion, 5th Havana Biennale, Havana, Cuba

                AKA ’94, Bona Gallery, Enugu, Nigeria

                AKA ’94, Didi Museum, Lagos, Nigeria

 

1993        New Currents ’93 – Avant-Garde Nigerian Art, Didi Museum, Lagos, Nigeria

                Six African Artists, October Gallery, London, UK

                AKA ’93, Bona Gallery, Enugu, Nigeria

                AKA ’93, Didi Museum, Lagos, Nigeria

 

1992        Arte Amazonas, Modern Art Museum, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; travelled as: Klima Global to Staatliche Kunalle,
                Berlin, Germany; and to Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany

                AKA ’92, Bona Gallery, Enugu

                AKA ’92, Didi Museum, Lagos, Nigeria

                AKA ’92, Begegnung mit den Anderen, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany

 

1991        El Desafi de Colonization, 4th Havana Biennale, Havana, Cuba

                South of the World, Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea, Marsala, Italy

                AKA ’91, Bona Gallery, Enugu; Goethe-Institut, Lagos, Nigeria

                Works by a Group of African Artists, The World Bank Art Society Gallery, World Bank Headquarters,
                Washington D.C., USA

                The Sculptor’s Guild of Nigeria Inaugural Exhibition, Murtala Mohammed Park, Enugu, Nigeria

 

1990

                Five Contemporary African Artists (44th Venice Biennale), Venice, Italy

                The Calabash 1st Art Exhibition, The Calabash, Lagos, Nigeria

                AKA ’90, The Presidential Hotel, Enugu, Nigeria

                AKA ’90, Goethe-Insitut, Lagos, Nigeria

                Achebe Celebration Exhibition, Continuing Education Centre, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

                Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition, The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY, USA

                Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition, African-American Museum in Philadelphia
                [formerly Afro-  American Historical and Cultural Museum], Philadelphia, PA, USA

                Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition, Chicago Public Library Cultural Centre,
                Washington D.C., USA

                Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition, The Museum of the National Center of
                African-American Artists (NCAAA), Boston, MA, USA

 

1989        Zeitgenössische Nigerianische Kunst, Bonn, Bocholt and Mönchengladbach, Germany

 

1988        Walls and Gates – El Anatsui & Liz Willis, Avant-Garde Gallery, Kaduna, Nigeria

                Thoughts and Processes – El Anatsui & Ndubisi Onah, The Italian Cultural Institute, Lagos, Nigeria

                AKA ’88, Nigerian Union of Journalists’ Press Centre, Enugu, Nigeria

                AKA ’88, Contemporary Art Gallery, Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria

                AKA ’88, National Gallery of Crafts and Design, Lagos, Nigeria

 

1987        AKA ’87, The Presidential Hotel, Enugu, Nigeria

                AKA ’87, National Gallery of Crafts and Design, Lagos, Nigeria

                Original Prints from the 3rd Nsukka Workshop, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Goethe-Institut,
                Lagos, Nigeria

 

1986        AKA ’86 – Inaugural Exhibition of the AKA Circle of Artists, the French Centre, Enugu and Goethe-Institut,
                Lagos, Nigeria

                Nigerian-German Prints, University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Franco-German Auditorium, Lagos, Nigeria

 

1983        Four Contemporary African Artists, Mintec Gallery, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

 

1982        Okike 10th Anniversary Exhibition, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

 

1981        Drawing on the World, Billingham Art Gallery, Billingham, UK

               Drawing on the World, Middlesborough Art Gallery, Middlesborough, UK,
               Drawing on the World, The House of Commons Gallery, London, UK

 

1979        Christian Arts in Nigeria, Holy Trinity Cathedral Hall, Onitsha, Nigeria

                The Nsukka School, Art Gallery of the Rivers State Council for Arts and Culture, Port Harcourt,
                Nigeria

 

1975        Fabric Wall Hangings, Burnt Wooden Wall Plaques, The Institute of African Studies,
               University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

 

1974        Tekarts Expo 5, National Arts Centre, Accra; Specialist Training College, Winneba, Ghana

 

1969 – 1970

                Ghana National Collection, National Arts Centre, Accra, Ghana

                Ghana National Collection, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., USA