El Anatsui

El Anatsui was born in Ghana in 1944. He earned his BA in art from the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana in 1969, and a postgraduate diploma in art education the same year. Soon after, he became a lecturer at the Specialist Training College (now the University of Winneba) in Winneba, Ghana. He began teaching at the University of Nigeria in 1975 and went on to head the Fine and Applied Arts Department from 1998 to 2000. He now holds the title of Professor of Sculpture.

El Anatsui has exhibited widely in the United States and abroad, including participation in the Venice Beinnale in 1990 and 2007, the exhibition Africa Remix which toured Europe and Asia, the Johannesburg Biennale 1995 and the Gwangiu Biennale 2204. He is in the public collections of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., the Museum for African Art, New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the British Museum, London, the Gentre Pompidou, Paris and the Denver Art Museum. He is represented by the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York.