Image: El Anatsui, Philadelphia
Weng Contemporary is presenting El Anatsui’s ‘Terrain’ (2025), newly available in its collection.
Hand-sculpted from UV-cured acrylic resin on aluminium, the work incorporates irregular hand-cut edges and copper wire.
‘Terrain’ folds and undulates from the wall, recalling woven cloth while retaining a strong sculptural presence, and sits between printmaking, relief and sculpture.
The work reflects Anatsui’s interests in transformation, fragmentation, repetition and materiality.
For decades, Anatsui has transformed ordinary and industrial materials into works that seem to contradict their physical nature: aluminium becomes fluid, while 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 a distinctive sculptural language. His materials carry deeper histories of trade, consumption, movement and cultural exchange.
