A new work by one of the most influential sculptors of our time

What happens when rigid metal begins to behave like fabric?

For decades, El Anatsui has transformed ordinary and industrial materials into works that seem to contradict their own physical nature. Aluminium becomes fluid; discarded bottle caps become vast, shimmering surfaces; hard materials fold, drape and shift like textiles.

Born in Ghana in 1944 and based in Nigeria for much of his career, Anatsui has developed one of the most distinctive sculptural languages in contemporary art. His monumental metal hangings have become immediately recognisable, while their materials carry deeper histories of trade, consumption, movement and cultural exchange.

At the heart of his practice is transformation. Individual fragments are repeated and connected into larger structures, turning something seemingly insignificant into a complex whole. The resulting works move between sculpture and textile, rigidity and fluidity, permanence and change.

Created in 2025, Terrain brings this vocabulary to a more intimate scale without losing its sculptural presence. Hand-sculpted from UV-cured acrylic resin on aluminium, with irregular hand-cut edges and copper wire, the work extends well beyond the conventional idea of a print. Its surface folds and undulates away from the wall, catching light differently as the viewer moves around it. From a distance, its intricate pattern recalls woven cloth; up close, its construction and materiality become increasingly visible. This tension is quintessentially Anatsui. A material associated with industry is made to appear delicate and flexible, while repetition transforms individual elements into an almost organic surface.

Terrain

2025

The title Terrain feels particularly fitting. The work can be read almost as a landscape: a field of shifting textures, elevations and patterns that changes according to light and perspective.
Published in an edition of only 14, Terrain sits somewhere between printmaking, relief and sculpture. It offers a concentrated expression of the ideas that have defined Anatsui’s practice: transformation, fragmentation, repetition and the unexpected possibilities contained within materials.

Weng Contemporary is pleased to present El Anatsui’s Terrain (2025), newly available in our collection.

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