Tony Cragg: Sculptures and Drawings - Tapa dura

The British artist Tony Cragg (b. 1949), winner of the 1988 Turner Prize, is one of today's most celebrated and popular sculptors. Before studying art, he worked as a laboratory technician, and his continuing interest in science has had an enormous influence on his practice. In his early sculptural works, he often utilized everyday objects, assembling or stacking them to generate engaging new forms. In recent years, he has turned to an astonishing variety of more traditional materials, such as wood, bronze, glass, plaster, fiberglass, and plastics. As a self-proclaimed "absolute materialist," Cragg approaches these materials with a degree of scientific curiosity, responding to their various properties to produce his expressive sculptures. This retrospective survey, made in consultation with the artist, focuses on Cragg's artistic output of the last ten years. Color illustrations demonstrate the diverse styles and materials that he employed during this time, and the book also includes earlier works and his alluring, little-known watercolors. This eye-opening book offers an up-to-date look at this respected contemporary artist.

Patrick Elliott is a senior curator at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.