The Warrior av El Anatsui : The Warrior av El Anatsui

29 August - 3 October 2026

FOR FØRSTE GANG KAN ET VERK AV EL ANATSUI OPPLEVES I DET OFFENTLIGE ROM I OSLO.
Nå er et monumentalt verk av en av verdens mest anerkjente samtidskunstnere tilgjengelig på Romsås senter.
For the first time, a work by El Anatsui can be experienced in public space in Oslo. A monumental work by one of the world’s most renowned contemporary artists is now on view at Romsås Senter.
A human figure emerges from the shimmering metal surface. The warrior is picked out in gleaming gold and moves through four dark diagonals that may evoke spears or arrows. The arms and legs create a sense of movement, while the warrior’s head and the dark diagonals extend beyond the work’s rectangular plane.

The work measures three and a half metres and was created in 2015. It is made from thousands of flattened aluminium bottle tops, carefully joined together with copper wire.

Anatsui is particularly known for his large-scale, abstract works made from bottle tops. The rippling surface may bring to mind Abstract Expressionist painting, while the patterns and use of colour have clear references to traditional Ghanaian textiles, including Kente cloth.
In 1998, Anatsui came across a collection of used bottle tops from alcohol bottles by the side of a road on the outskirts of Nsukka. At the time, he was already working with other discarded metal materials. He brought the bottle tops back to his studio and kept them there for two years before assembling them into a sculpture. Anatsui was initially drawn to the bottle tops as a colourful, malleable and versatile material. Over time, he also became interested in the histories they carried with them. The bottle tops point to historical connections between Africa, Europe and the Caribbean. Alcohol was among the goods brought to Africa by European traders and later became one of the commodities used in the transatlantic slave trade.
Through his work, Anatsui addresses West Africa’s cultural and political history, alongside histories of trade and economy, as well as concerns about human use of natural resources and the vulnerability of nature.

At Romsås, The Warrior is installed in the shopping centre’s shared public space, above the entrance to GalleryLab. The work therefore becomes part of a place many people pass through in their everyday lives, on their way to the shops, the library or the metro.
Bilde av kunstner. Hentet fra Sotheby's nettside.

El Anatsui was born and educated in Ghana and moved to Nsukka, Nigeria, in 1975, where he taught at the University of Nigeria for nearly forty years. Anatsui has held a prominent international position for several decades, and in 2015 he was awarded the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. He has participated in major biennials and exhibited at leading international institutions including Centre Pompidou (2010) and Brooklyn Museum (2014). His work is held in both private and public collections, including those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the British Museum.
The work is lent out by Ferd AS.

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The Warrior av El Anatsui : The Warrior av El Anatsui

FOR FØRSTE GANG KAN ET VERK AV EL ANATSUI OPPLEVES I DET OFFENTLIGE ROM I OSLO.