Tony Cragg’s sculptural body of work is as varied as it is unique. This refers to the formal qualities as well as his artistic interpretation of the opposites of figuration and abstraction, which pervades his complete oeuvre.
Cragg began to work with an accumulative, conceptual approach, which was informed by Land Art and whereby found objects from nature and civilization were combined to form aesthetically ordered combinations of objects. From here, Cragg soon developed figurative forms, which led him to often monumental size sculptures crafted in one piece and cast in bronze. Since the late 1980s his work is characterized by biomorphic and ‘soft’ forms in bronze and other materials such as wood, plaster or resin as well as the increasing use of strong colour. When perceived together with their suggestive titles, his sculptures seem to originate from a very own habitat. They also reflect his insights into the visual forms of micro- and macrocosm based in the natural sciences. This reflection on different life forms and their transformation can be seen as the conceptual content informing Cragg’s work.
Tony Cragg has received an exhaustive number of prizes for his oeuvre. His work was shown repeatedly at documenta and in important museums around the world. His sculptures can be found in major national and international museum collections.
