Sculpture: Tony Cragg

Gow Langsford Gallery is pleased to present this solo exhibition by celebrated British sculptor Tony Cragg.  Cragg is part of a strong generation of sculptors to emerge out of Britain in the 1980's to international acclaim, and now takes place as one of the most innovative and distinguished sculptors working today.

This exhibition showcases major works from varying periods of Cragg’s career. From his earlier fragment and remanet sculptures is Clear Glass Stack, which incorporates literally hundreds of bottles, meticulously stacked and arranged to present an ordered and complex presentation of these found objects. 

“His stackings, compositions of objects, various landscapes, shells, houses, molecular systems and elementary forms amount to a sensible geography of the contemporary world which he observes and records like a surveyor, measuring contours, marking boundaries and identifying plots of land.” (Catherine Grenier, in Tony Cragg: Signs of Life, 2003, p.418)

Also exhibited are works come from Cragg’s most recent series, entitled “Early Forms” and “Rational Beings”. Predominately working in bronze, these works range from figurative busts to large scale abstract pieces, and can weigh up to one tonne each.   A link to Cragg’s early interest in science is evident in these works which demonstrate experiments with movement and mass.   Declination and Can -Can appear as a series of vessels and receptacles folding into one another, revealing internal and external spatial qualities. Many of Cragg’s recent bronze sculptures are treated with matt-paint in hues of yellow, red and green, breathing new life to this ancient sculptural material.

Cragg has exhibited extensively internationally since the early 1980’s, and in 1988 was awarded the Turner Prize for his exhibition as the British representative at the Venice Biennale.  In 2003 Cragg’s significance was affirmed by the retrospective exhibition, Tony Cragg: Signs of Life, at the Kunst und Usstellungshalle der BDR, Bonn, Germany. This exhibition was accompanied by a major catalogue publication, surveying his work over the past thirty years. Cragg’s work is included in major public and private collections worldwide, including the Tate Musuem (London), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (USA), Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Torino (Italy), and the Art Gallery of NSW (Australia), among others.