El Anatsui was born 1944 in Ghana - the youngest of his father's 32 children.
When I entered last year's Armory Show in New York City I was welcomed by this huge wall-hugging art installation. Upon further inspection I realized I looked at flattened bottle caps.
I found this great description on www.nmafa.si.edu: "...Throughout his career Ghanaian artist El Anatsui has experimented with a variety of media, including wood, ceramics and paint. Most recently, he has focused on discarded metal objects, hundreds or even thousands of which are joined together to create truly remarkable works of art. Anatsui indicates that the word gawu (derived from Ewe, his native language) has several potential meanings, including "metal" and "a fashioned cloak." The term, therefore, manages to encapsulate the medium, process and format of the works on view, reflecting the artist's transformation of discarded materials into objects of striking beauty and originality.The metal fragments that constitute the raw material of Anatsui's work have had a profound impact on the West African societies that use, reuse and finally discard them. Several of his metal "cloths" are constructed with aluminum wrappings from the tops of bottles that once contained spirits from local distilleries. The three-dimensional sculptures are made of the discarded tops of evaporated milk tins, rusty metal graters and old printing plates, all gathered in and around Nsukka, Nigeria, where the artist has lived and worked for the last 28 years..."
Learn more about El Anatsui on: http://www.nmafa.si.edu
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