Ghanaian artist and sculptor El Anatsui uses humble found materials — mostly famously, bottle caps — to make monumental artworks. Currently living and working in Nigeria, Anatsui is known for defying categorization, with sculptures that have been described variously as resembling quilts, animal hides, chainmail, lace and mosaics. He also creates smaller-scale abstract prints with a similar look and energy.
Anatsui was born in 1944 and earned his bachelor’s degree from Ghana’s Kumasi College of Arts, Science and Technology in 1968. He followed it up with a postgraduate diploma in art education and took his first teaching post at the University of Education in Ghana in 1969. In the late 1970s, Anatsui began creating his own art, mainly in terra-cotta, inspired by traditional African forms.
In 1982, Anatsui became a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he continued to teach until 2011. Over the 1980s, he branched out and experimented with materials like wood, giving him greater freedom of scale, pattern and color. Over time, he began to use smaller pieces of metal stitched-together copper wire to build grandiose sculptures, which became his signature look and technique. In addition to bottle caps, Anatsui is known for using printing plates, iron nails, railroad ties and tin cans.
Whatever material he chooses for any given piece, Anatsui ensures that it has a connection to Africa, often sourcing from local recycling stations. His work is an exploration of the environment, waste, colonialism, local traditions, consumption and the connections between all of these facets. In the process, he transforms discarded items into beautiful art installations.
In 2008, Anatsui was recognized for his contributions to art with a Lifetime Achievement award at the Venice Biennale. His work has been exhibited all over the world, including at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka and Rice Gallery in Houston. In 2022, Damiani Publishers released a 360-page book titled El Anatsui: The Reinvention of Sculpture, which chronicles his life and work.
On 1stDibs, find El Anatsui prints and other art.
Black and Silver
By El Anatsui
Located in Toronto, Ontario
El Anatsui (b. 1944) is an acclaimed Ghanian sculptor working out of Nigeria. Known for his large-scale tapestry-like metallic sculptures created from discarded resources, Anatsui dr...
Copper, Wire
Paper and Silver by El Anatsui hand-sculpted aluminium sculpture African Art
By El Anatsui
Located in Zug, CH
El Anatsui uses typically discarded resources such as liquor bottle caps, cassava graters and newspaper printing plates, to create both floor-based sculptures and shimmering wall pie...
Metal, Copper, Wire
Price Upon Request
Striped Flags
By El Anatsui
Located in New York, NY
This work is offered by CLAMP in New York City.
Metal
Price Upon Request
Variation I (B)
By El Anatsui
Located in Saint Louis, MO
El Anatsui Variation I (B), 2014 Pigment print with hand collage and copper wire 23 x 30.2 inches (58.4 x 76.8 cm) Edition of 16
Wire
$3,520Sale Price|20% Off
H 69 in W 48 in
Stratosphere I - large format photograph of abstract liquid water cloudscapes
By Christian Stoll
Located in San Francisco, CA
large scale photography of mesmerizing color compositions of liquid cloudscape painting in water, hypnotizing abstract liquidscapes from the bo...
Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Giclée
$4,400
H 48 in W 64 in
Desert Daze - light effect in California desert landscape with endless horizon
By Frank Schott
Located in San Francisco, CA
a series of images capturing the epic scale of the iconic landscapes of the American West Desert Daze by Frank Schott 48 x 64 inches / 122cm x 162cm signed edition of 7 30 x ...
Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Giclée
$1,600
H 17 in W 1.75 in D 10 in
"Bar" Miniature Wall-Mounted Storefront Sign by Drew Leshko
By Drew Leshko
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Bar" is original artwork made from paper, inkjet print, enamel, wire, chain, aluminum, and pastel by Drew Leshko. This piece measures 17”h x 1.75”w x 10”d. Paradi...
Metal, Enamel, Wire
Werner Bronkhorst - Tiebreak
Located in London, GB
Werner Bronkhorst TieBreak, 2025 Giclée print on Hahnemühle Photorag paper with ready-to-hang heavyweight solid oak frame. From the artist's acclaimed Wimbledon series. Accompanied b...
Giclée
$5,800
H 35 in W 16 in D 9 in
"Friendly Money Loan" Realistic miniature, architecture, building, cityscape
By Drew Leshko
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Friendly Money Loan" is an original artwork made from paper, plaster, vinyl, acrylic, enamel, polyester, basswood, chain, wire, inkjet prints, and pastel by Drew Leshko. This piece measures 35"h x 16"w x 9"d. Drew Leshko is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based artist. By carving, cutting, and layering varieties of paper and wood, Leshko creates documentary studies of architecture from his neighborhood in an attempt to create a three dimensional archive of buildings that are in transitional periods. The work examines gentrification and history, how historical relevance is determined, and most importantly, what is worth preserving. Working from observation and photographs, the artist painstakingly recreates building facades from his neighborhood at a 1:12 scale...
Metal, Enamel, Wire
$34,998
H 36.2 in W 49.6 in
Cannizaro H4-4 Damien Hirst Contemporary Art Diasec-mounted Giclée Print Street
By Damien Hirst
Located in Draper, UT
Damien Hirst Cannizaro H4-4 Diasec-mounted Giclée print on aluminium panel 920 x 1260 MM Edition size: 75 + 5 AP signed and numbered from an edition of 75 verso, published by HENI Editions; sheet: 92 x 126cm Damien Hirst first came to public attention in London in 1988 when he conceived and curated "Freeze," an exhibition in a disused warehouse that showed his work and that of his friends and fellow students at Goldsmiths College. In the nearly quarter of a century since that pivotal show (which would come to define the Young British Artists), Hirst has become one of the most influential artists of his generation. His groundbreaking works include The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), a shark in formaldehyde; Mother and Child Divided (1993) a four-part sculpture of a bisected cow and calf; and For the Love of God (2007), a human skull studded with 8,601 diamonds. In addition to his installations and sculptures, Hirst’s Spot paintings...
Metal
$4,200
H 20 in W 26.5 in D 7 in
"The Apocalypse Now" Hyperrealistic Miniature Building Wall-Mounted Sculpture
By Drew Leshko
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "The Apocalypse Now" is original artwork made from paper, basswood, plaster, acrylic, enamel, watercolor, wire, pvc, pins, pastel, inkjet prints by Drew Leshko. Thi...
Metal, Enamel, Wire
$3,400
H 19 in W 24 in D 6 in
"Instant Slaughter" Miniature Storefront by Drew Leshko
By Drew Leshko
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Instant Slaughter" is original artwork made from paper, basswood, plaster, acrylic, enamel, watercolor, wire, pvc, pins, pastel, inkjet prints by Drew Leshko. This...
Metal, Enamel, Wire
Degradê. From The Lavori in Corso series
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Eduardo Rezende’s 2024 series Lavori in Corso revisits one of the artist’s most enduring themes: the urban and architectural landscape — this time focused on construction sites, scaf...
Canvas, Archival Pigment
$2,800
H 19 in W 13.5 in D 6.5 in
"Anna's Pizza" Miniature Hyper-detailed Storefront in Wood, Plasterm and Paper
By Drew Leshko
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Anna's Pizza" is original artwork made from paper, basswood, plaster, acrylic, enamel, watercolor, wire, pvc, pins, pastel, inkjet prints by Drew Leshko. This piec...
Metal, Enamel, Wire
$1,100
H 21.07 in W 16.93 in D 0.02 in
American Contemporary Art by Maxwell Stevens - Drum Circle, Central Park
Located in Paris, IDF
Giclée Print on Hahnemühle Paper, Framed 63.5 x 52.75 x 3 cm Edition of 100 Maxwell Stevens is an American artist born in 1971 who lives and works in New York, USA. He received an ...
Paper, Giclée
$600
H 13 in W 1.5 in D 7.5 in
"Shamrock" Miniature Clover Hanging Sign - Contemporary 21st Century Art
By Drew Leshko
Located in Philadelphia, PA
This piece titled "Shamrock" is original artwork made from paper, inkjet print, enamel, wire, chain, aluminum tube, pastel by Drew Leshko. This piece measures 13”h x 1.5”w x 7.5”d. ...
Metal, Enamel, Wire
Sold
H 64.18 in W 61.03 in D 1.97 in
Checked Key by El Anatsui, Limited Edition, Wall Sculpture, Metal, Contemporary
By El Anatsui
Located in Zug, CH
El Anatsui Checked Key 2022 Hand sculpted and formed UV cured acrylic resin inkjet on aluminum with irregular hand-cut edges and copper wire 163 × 155 × 5 cm (64.2 × 61 × 2 in) Signe...
Metal, Copper, Wire
Sold
H 64.18 in W 61.03 in D 1.97 in
Checked Key by El Anatsui, Limited Edition, Wall Sculpture, Metal, Contemporary
By El Anatsui
Located in Zug, CH
El Anatsui Checked Key 2022 Hand sculpted and formed UV cured acrylic resin inkjet on aluminum with irregular hand-cut edges and copper wire 163 × 155 × 5 cm (64.2 × 61 × 2 in) Signe...
Metal, Copper, Wire
El Anatsui Zebra Crossing, First Edition
By El Anatsui
Located in valatie, NY
El Anatsui zebra crossing. New York: Jack Shainman Edition, 2009. First Edition foiled hardcover with no dust jacket as issued. 174 pp. Art book on the ...
Paper