Ghanaian-born artist, El Anatsui is one of Time’s 100 most influential people for 2023.
Time has compiled their list of 100 most influential people for 2023. The annual publication features top influential individuals from different fields, from pioneers, leaders, and titans to artists, innovators, and icons. As usual, the Time’s 100 most influential people for this year have been put together by the magazine’s editors. Each person on the list is there because of their impact and influence over the previous year.
El Anatsui is one of the most prominent artists in the world. He is famous for his metallic sculptures made from thousands of recycled bottle tops articulated with copper wire. By repurposing found things like copper wire, newspaper printing plates, cassava graters, and aluminium bottle tops, he confronts the ideas of consumerism, waste, and the environment in his work, which is frequently abstract in nature.
Artist, critic, and art historian Okeke-Agulu writes about El Anatsui:
“El Anatsui is one of the most impactful artists of our time. As a sculptor, he shows an incomparable capacity to experiment with his materials, medium, and process. El collects diverse materials, puts them aside in his studio for years, and then returns to them intermittently, until he figures out the right language for inventing completely new sculptural forms. The breathtaking combination of experimental rigor and inspired vision turns such unassuming materials as printer’s plates or liquor-bottle caps into the magnificent constructions and compositions displayed around the world, from a recent solo show in Seoul to his upcoming commission at London’s Tate Modern.”
Recently, El Anatsui’s works have been commissioned and exhibited in different galleries and museums all across the world. According to MutualArt, here is a list of his most recent exhibitions: Mnuchin Gallery in New York (2022), Kadist in Paris (2022), National Arts Club in New York (2022), Efiɛ Gallery in Dubai (2022), Goodman Gallery in South Africa (2022), October Gallery (2022 & 2023), Indianapolis Museum of Art in USA (2022), Jack Shainman Gallery in USA (2022), and Freedman Gallery in USA (2022).
On Anatsui, Okeke-Agulu continues:
“ Less public, but just as important, is El’s unflinching generosity of spirit. As his career grew, so has his remarkable propensity to support not just other artists but also individuals, families, and institutions in his community in Nsukka and across Nigeria. And he does all this without fanfare, as if it is only but a life mission. That, for me, is the mark of greatness.”
