Tony Cragg
Master manipulator of shapes and forms Vanessa Wildenstein is
seduced by Tony Cragg’s sculptural journey at the Benaki
Museum
Large-scale bronze sculptures, by Liverpool-born sculptor Tony
Cragg, come into view as I enter the courtyard of the Benaki
Museum, on Pireos. Glorious shapes in varied patinas twist and
turn upwards, dizzying in intensity and verticality. In some,
I see human figures, profiles or other familiar shapes. Others
are more abstract, otherworldly or totemic.
On September 8, opening night, art lovers and students flock
to the auditorium to listen to the British sculptor speak
about his work. Wearing a dark suit, open-necked white shirt,
and an equally relaxed expression, 66-year-old Cragg,
recipient of the Turner prize in 1988, speaks eloquently. He
is charismatic and draws the audience into his rhetoric and
ideology without dumbing it down. No wonder his position at
the prestigious Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts lasted over 30
years.
His sculptural journey, Cragg explains, begins when his pencil
touches paper. He doesn’t know where it’s going until he’s
explored every facet of the future sculpture. “The fixed world
is the fixed world: it’s the dead world,” he explains. Art is
an ever evolving process.
Objects shaped by people are dull, their function limited.
“Objects that come out of nature are infinitely more
interesting, because nature’s taken millions of years to make
them,” he says, emphasizing his words with a flurry of hand
gestures, “and we are very dumb at making things. Designers
and architects always have recipients in mind; they’re making
things for people. If nobody buys the thing or uses it, then
it’s a ‘bad design’. An artist obviously needs to survive but,
when in the studio, he generally doesn’t think about anybody
else.”
Cragg
constantly
pushes
boundaries, whether material or
structural,
inspiration
while
from
seeking
nature.
Sometimes his imagination gets
away with him, and he ends up
with shapes and plans that are
impossible to realise in 3D form.
Mostly, though, the end sculpture
is
something
innovative,
futuristic even.
After the talk, we are ushered towards the exhibition, a
collaboration between Cragg’s studio, the Benaki Museum and
Xenia Geroulanos of the Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery, which has
been representing the sculptor for 20 years.
“This is the artist’s first solo museum show in Greece,” says
Geroulanos. “He’s always loved the idea of showing here and
was instantly taken by the Benaki Museum and its courtyard. He
was a major decision-maker as to which works would be
included.”
The 25 works that made the cut span the last 15 years and are
all on loan from the artist’s own foundation. According to
Geroulanos, the chosen sculptures all relate to the forms in
which you can see a portrait. His works are made of wood,
bronze, and stone. Only a few are of man-made materials like
mirror-finish steel and plastic.
In a tall red sculpture, made of stacked slices of plywood
that have been epoxied together, “Bent of Mind” (2008), I
recognize the profile of Nefertiti. A step to the right or to
the left and the image changes completely. The viewers’
physical location determines what they will perceive.
Wanting to approach the sculptor, I queue up behind a man
who’s asked him to sign a pile of catalogues. Cragg is happy
to oblige. My quest is different: I want to know if the human
profiles are fortuitous. His answer: the sculptures are
studied from all angles, thus leaving little room to chance.
We wander about the room, dying to trail our fingers along the
smooth and tantalizing surfaces. Cragg identifies with the
compulsion to touch. “We have, when we’re born, this beautiful
organ, complicated through evolution, but it has to be
filled,” he says. “The way you fill it is by smelling,
touching, looking and hearing. This is the way you gather the
terms to describe the world.”
Some of his sculptures are squat and grounded, some windswept,
and others soar upwards. Cragg is undoubtedly a master at
manipulating the elements and their energy.
“Tony Cragg”
Benaki Museum, Pireos Street Annexe, 138 Pireos & Andronikou
St.
Until 08/11/2015
Tickets: € 5, € 2,5 (reduced)
Opening hours: Thursday, Sunday: 10:00 – 18:00; Friday,
Saturday: 10:00 – 22:00
Three more works will be on view at the Benaki Museum on
Koumbari Street as of September 21.