TONY CRAGG

Early Years

Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool in 1949. He initially worked as a laboratory technician, an experience that informed his lifelong interest in science and material transformation. Cragg studied at the Wimbledon College of Arts in London, graduating in 1973, and completed his postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Art in London in 1977. He moved to Wuppertal, Germany, in the late 1970s, where he continues to live and work. Cragg's international perspective and scientific background have profoundly influenced his art practice.

Tony Cragg Artworks

Cragg's contemporary art practice is defined by his use of both unconventional and traditional materials to create sculptures that reimagine familiar forms. His works often blur the line between the organic and the industrial, with objects that appear to shift, stack, or morph, evoking both human bodies and landscapes.

Human Intervention and Found Objects

In the late 1970s and 1980s, Cragg gained recognition for creating wall-mounted or floor-based installations by assembling everyday detritus and found objects. New Stones, Newton's Tones (1978) is a seminal artwork in which he arranged coloured plastic items into a geometric composition, reflecting on consumer culture and environmental impact. Works like those of Leaf (1981) and Bird (1980) used man-made materials to depict natural forms, highlighting the intersection of human intervention and the environment.

Verticality, Horizontality, and Transformation

Cragg's later sculptures are notable for their tiered and stacked appearances, often referencing the verticality of Constantin Brancusi's columns and the dynamic forms of Futurist artists such as Umberto Boccioni. Points of View (2013), a set of three seven-metre columns, shifts in appearance depending on the viewer's perspective. In contrast, Minster (1990) is constructed from circular metal machine parts amassed into towers, while more recent works are often cast in a single material but retain a sense of layered complexity.

Early Forms and Rational Beings

From the late 1980s, Cragg's 'Early Forms' series explored the vessel as a fundamental human object, distorting and twisting its shape to create new, abstract forms. Taurus (Early Forms) (1999) transforms the vessel into a monumental bronze sculpture reminiscent of natural phenomena. In the 'Rational Beings' series, Cragg investigates the abstraction of the human figure, as seen in A Head, I Thought (2011), where facial profiles dissolve into columns and slabs.

Public Commissions

Some examples include:

• Versus, University of Tokyo, Japan
• Runner, Central World Plaza, Bangkok, Thailand
• Ferryman, Canary Wharf, London, UK

Awards and Accolades

Some examples include:

• Turner Prize, Tate, London (1988)
• Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) (2002)
• Praemium Imperiale Award for Sculpture, Japan Art Association (2007)

Exhibitions

Tony Cragg has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions at major institutions worldwide. Some are referenced below.

Solo Exhibitions

• Riot, Lisson Gallery, New York (2023)
• Incidents, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York (2022)
• Tony Cragg – Sculptures, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin (2021)
• Rare Species, Brazilian Museum of Culture and Ecology, São Paulo (2019)
• Human Nature, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul (2018)
• Tony Cragg: Sculptures and Drawings, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK (2017)
• Tony Cragg: Retrospective, Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, Germany (2016)

Group Exhibitions

• Keramik, Buchmann Galerie, Berlin (2023)
• The Privilege of Painting-20th Century, SETAREH, Düsseldorf
• Spectrum, Lisson Gallery, New York (2020)
• Beyond Borders, Boghossian Foundation, Brussels (2018)
• Economic Values / Museum Values, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2017)
• Skulptur Projekte Münster, Germany (2007)

Website

Tony Cragg's website can be found here.

FAQs

Sherry Paik | Ocula | 2025