Star, colorful bird, artistic genius - one would hardly deem any of these labels accurate when considering his appearance. The guess for a profession would surely lean more towards a natural scientist. And that wouldn't even be entirely wrong. However, Tony Cragg has long since shed the white coat more than 50 years ago. The work in the biochemical laboratory was so dull that he started drawing. "Initially out of sheer boredom," he admits. But the Brit apparently soon found such enjoyment in this artistic pastime that he decided on a 180-degree turn and wanted to continue as an artist. Cragg began his studies at the Gloucestershire College of Art and Design, then attended the painting class at the Wimbledon School of Art, before moving to the Royal College of Art in London in 1973.
The sculptor, born in Liverpool in 1949, left his home in 1977 to pursue a rather smooth career from Wuppertal. In the 1980s, events unfolded rapidly, one major exhibition event followed another: in 1982 and 1987, Cragg exhibited at documenta 7 and 8, and in 1988 he represented his home country at the Venice Biennale. In the same year, he also received the prestigious Turner Prize.
Today, the sculptor successfully manages a large studio in Wuppertal, where he directs a good dozen skilled assistants. In addition, Cragg received much recognition from 2009 to 2013 as the rector of the Düsseldorf Art Academy - as an honorary member, he remains connected to the institution. Last but not least, he established the Waldfrieden Sculpture Park around the listed Villa Waldfrieden in Wuppertal. The open-air museum was inaugurated in 2008. Several special exhibitions are presented here each year.
Amid all this, however, the backstory as a biochemist seems not unimportant. His working method has always displayed something akin to scientific methodology. Forms of expression and techniques are systematically experimented with - similar to experimental series. He reflects a sculptural principle from many angles, trying this and that variation until the matter seems exhausted, until he no longer expects new results.
When sellable sculptures were still far off, the sculptor tested the nature of different materials in rather ephemeral works. For instance, by throwing a rope into the air or building leaning towers out of bricks that - propped against a wall - seemed to anticipate their collapse. Or when he traced the contours of his own body with chalk. From there, it is not far at all to the wall reliefs made from colorful plastic waste developed around 1980. The artist collects lids, handles, bottles, shards - remnants that he sorts by color and forms into life-sized shadow figures. Another essential theme of his work emerges towards the end of the 1980s in the "Early Forms". Cragg derives the "Early Forms" from the vessel, which he transforms and puts into motion. He squeezes, stretches, folds. What comes out often resembles a strange mix of organic growth and mechanical device. Also significant is the idea of the "Rational Beings," which vary the characteristic principle of layering round discs.
In different groups of works, strands, phases, Cragg unfolds his oeuvre. He picks up and rejects, discovers new things and further develops what has already been found. It's likely the versatility, the constant search for new possibilities, materials, designs that keeps his work interesting and relevant to this day. For some sculptors, perhaps one or two essential works are enough to make the core of their art recognizable. With Cragg, one surely must see ten to twenty to even begin to understand what sculpture means to him. Sometimes, the artist says, he wakes up in the middle of the night - completely moved by something he still needs to create. "As soon as a sculpture is finished, I’m essentially already standing in front of the next one."
