Behind The Bottle-Caps

Guest post by Eleanor Edwardes

A new selection of prints by El Anatsui will be presented as part of the group show Transvangarde at London's October Gallery this February. This is an exhibition of international artists pushing boundaries in fresh and innovative ways, and includes work by Romuald Hazoumè, Tian Wei and Laila Shawa to name a few. Anatsui's work, however, will include brand new prints from his current Benchmarks series.

Having already received numerous awards for his work including the Praemium Imperiale for sculpture in Japan, and the Lorenzo il Magnifico lifetime achievement award, the artist has been represented by October Gallery since the early nineties. Known for his large-scale installations made entirely from bottle-caps, his work for this show includes imprints of the worktops on which his treasured bottle tops were hammered.

At the beginning of his career, Anatsui found several bags full of bottle tops by a liquor store in West Africa, and from there he became keenly interested in the stories that hid behind these everyday objects. 'Art grows out of each particular situation,' he explains, 'and I believe that artists are better off working with whatever their environment throws up...'

Transvangarde, 1 February - 3 March 2018

October Gallery, 24 Old Gloucester Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 3AL