Anatsui's textile artworks document and showcase the consumption and exchange patterns prevalent in the communities surrounding his studios in Nigeria and Ghana.The Ghanaian artist's metallic mosaics are featured in numerous esteemed museum collects ions, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Broad in Los Angeles, The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art in Cape Town. Anatsui has received the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifet.mes Achievement at the 56th Venice Art Biennale and was recently honoured with a commission for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern.

Dexterity stands out from Anatsui’s oeuvre of metallic tapestries for its explicit articulation of an allegorical theme. The present lot takes its title from the geometric symbol emblazoned in the centre of the work. Belonging to a body of symbols entitled Adinkra commonly attributed to the Akan speaking people of modern Ghana and Ivory Coast, the symbol is entitled nkyimkyim, a name derived from the Akan proverb Ɔbra kwan yɛ nkyinkyimii (Life’s journey is twisted). Nkyimkyim’s rigid linearity conveys inscrutability and order, whilst its maze-like shape reflects the values of dynamism and versatility. Nkyimkyim thus serves as a kind of memento mori within the Akan aesthetic tradition, highlighting the dexterity required to navigate the pitfalls of life. The Adinkra symbols are an indelible constituent of West African visual culture, especially in modern Ghana, where nkyimkyim and other symbols adorn textiles and building facades throughout the country, even featuring on banknotes and government insignia.

Anatsui's practice emphasises the boundary between our knowledge of the past and the reality of historical events, and his fluid sculptures often become a symbol of the colonial destruction of African cultures.Through his process of recontextualization, Anatsui offers a poignant.mes ditation on the interconnectedness of our world and the transformative influence of art. His remarkable ability to transform discarded items into coveted objects profoundly underscores the transformative potential of perception.

2019 was a seminal year for the artist. Dexterity was created in the run up to the largest survey exhibition of his 50-year career to date, “El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale” organized by Haus der Kunst, Munich, in what would become the great curator Okwui Enwezor's final exhibition.

We are grateful to the artist for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.