El Anatsui, October Gallery

El Anatsui's ‘fabric’ works are so rich that they look like the robes of an African king. But they are in fact made of humble materials. The Ghana-born artist constructs his sweeping creations from bottle tops, hammered and reshaped, so that they shimmer like golden scales, dotted throughout with flecks of bright colour.

Anatsui’s career is a long and distinguished one. In 2013 he bedecked the facade of the Royal Academy with one of his aluminium drapes, and, a year later, was named an honorary Royal Academician. He has also received international acclaim, picking up, along side many other awards, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at Venice Biennale. Now, he is helping October Gallery celebrate their 40th year with an exhibition that brings his best-known works back to London.

Speaking of his work Anatsui says: ‘The amazing thing about working with these metallic "fabrics" is that the poverty of the materials used in no way precludes the telling of rich and wonderful stories.’