The exposition presents 55 works, including sculpture and drawings from different years: the already classical compositions "Monastery" and "Absolutely omnivorous", new works from glass and graphic works of the last two decades. The project of the exhibition was prepared by the artist specially for the State Hermitage.
Tony Cragg (b. 1949) is a British sculptor, one of the recognized classics of modern art. In 1977 he moved to the city of Wuppertal (Germany), where he currently lives and works. In 2008, the Tony Cragg Sculpture Park was opened near Wuppertal.
Tony Cragg started out as an artist in the 1970s - on the wave of minimalism and conceptual art. His first works are monumental compositions made from household waste. Subsequently, the artist turned to the study of the properties of shape and surface, experimenting with a variety of materials - from traditional wood, stone and metal, to little expected in Kevlar sculpture (a new bulletproof material from which airbuses are made), rubber and plastic. “The initial interest that inspired me to create images and objects was - and still remains - the creation of objects that do not exist in the natural or functional world, which can reflect and convey information and sensations from the world and my own existence,” stressed Cragg in 1985.
Popular
In his works, the sculptor turns to the most complex study of the existence of sculpture - outside of design, outside the vicissitudes of the museum and gallery world, outside the art market. He is interested in sculpture beyond its usefulness, applicability, usefulness and serviceability. The infinity of logical variability of its forms is one of the main themes of his research. The artist never ceases to admire the human ability to be aware of his earthly existence, to reflect on it. Sculpture is, in his understanding, a kind of response to such thinking.
A different, rather, service status for Cragg's drawings. They prepare the birth of sculpture, look for support for it and outline the existential justification at the formal level. Drawings are inseparable from sculptures and in a strange way live by their plastic laws. The abstract forms drawn here are fraught with real, and, therefore, materializable objects.
From 1979 to 2016, Tony Cragg has spent more than 250 solo exhibitions in major museums and galleries in Europe, America, Asia and Australia, including the Louvre, Paris; Tate Gallery, Liverpool; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul; Museum of Contemporary Art MACRO, Rome, and others.
Tony Cragg is a laureate of the most prestigious art Turner Prize in the world, many other prizes and awards, he is a laureate of the Order of the British Empire II degree (the last title before the title of Sir), Honorary Chevalier of Arts and Literature (France), member of the Royal Academy of Arts (London), Shakespeare Prize Winner, Member of the Academy of Arts (Berlin), Professor at the University of the Arts in Berlin.
The artist will arrive in St. Petersburg with his team for the installation and opening of the exhibition in the Hermitage.
In the summer of 2012, as part of the Sculpture in the Courtyard program, Tony Cragg's work Luke was shown in the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace.
Curator of the exhibition Tony Cragg. Sculpture and Drawings ”- Dmitry Ozerkov, Head of the Department of Contemporary Art of the State Hermitage, Candidate of Philosophy. A scientific illustrated catalog has been prepared for the exhibition, the author of the text is D. Yu. Ozerkov.
A large educational program has been prepared for the exhibition, including a lecture by Tony Cragg, master classes and round tables.
Falconeri is an Italian brand with vast experience in the production of knitted garments from natural materials for men and women with exquisite taste. The collections use the highest quality yarn; it creates versatile and extremely comfortable wardrobe items, the perfection of which can be seen in every detail - a combination of sophisticated beauty and elegance. From sketching to quality control, from knitting to packaging, every stage of production is carried out in the Italian factory in Avio. The combination of affordable prices and high quality products combined with great attention to detail and the continuous improvement of technology in the tradition of «Made in Italy». Falconeri, with over 80 stores worldwide, entered the Russian market in 2011. Today, this brand's clothing is sold in 11 stores located in three large Russian cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don. Falconeri has always been close in spirit to the art world. The Italian brand recently sponsored the Taormina Film Festival and a major exhibition of works by Paolo Veronese at the Gran Guardia Palace in Verona.
La Fondazione Berengo. Fondazione Berengo - an independent cultural organization established by Adriano Berengo (Adriano Berengo). Its aim is to promote glass as a material in contemporary art, design and architecture, and to preserve the age-old traditions of Venice and Murano. Fondazione Berengo also contributes to education, in partnership with art schools and other institutions, by offering courses for glass artists as well as internships for students to bring their creativity to life with a traditional glass furnace. Fondazione Berengo co-sponsored Glasstress 2015 Gotika, the 56th Venice Biennale, as well as a joint project between Berengo Studio and the State Hermitage Museum.
Tony Cragg Photo by Mart Engelena
Tony Cragg is a British sculptor, one of the recognized classics of modern art. He began as an artist in the 1970s, successfully joining the then popular movement of minimalism and conceptual art. “The initial interest that inspired me to create images and objects was - and still remains - the creation of objects that do not exist in the natural or functional world, which can reflect and convey information and sensations from the world and my own existence,” - stressed Cragg in 1985 at the dawn of his career.
The main theme of the artist's research is the existence of sculpture outside of design, outside the ups and downs of the museum and gallery world, outside the art market. He is trying to figure out how independent a work of art can be and whether it can be useful.
During his career, Tony Cragg has held over 250 solo exhibitions in leading museums and galleries in Europe, America, Asia and Australia, including the Louvre, Paris; Tate Gallery, Liverpool; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul; Museum of Contemporary Art MACRO, Rome, and others. Now he has reached Russia. Finally, the work of the master in such a volume can be seen in our country.
Exhibition “Tony Cragg. Sculpture and Drawings ”was organized with the participation of the Berengo Foundation and with the support of the Falconeri brand, Italy. The exhibition will feature 55 works, including sculpture and drawings from different years. You will be able to see both the classic compositions of the master ("Monastery" and "Absolutely omnivorous"), as well as new glass works and graphic works of the last two decades. It should be noted that the project of the exhibition was prepared by the artist specifically for the State Hermitage.
Briton Tony Cragg, one of the most famous contemporary sculptors. 55 works were brought to the Hermitage, including several iconic works and drawings, which are rarely exhibited. All together, in the case of Cragg with his many-kilogram sculptures, it is already an indicative retrospective that cannot be missed. The Village learned a few key items and based on them followed the path of the transformation of the artist and innovator fighter with traditions in the cultural establishment favorite.
"Cultural Myth of Africa", 1984
In 1977, barely graduating from the Royal College of Art in London, Cragg fled the UK and moved to Wuppertal, a provincial industrial city in western Germany, where he still lives. Here he creates his first successful works - experimental sculpture and wall assemblies. At the beginning of a career, it seems that everything that comes to hand goes into work: junk found in the garbage, broken toys, lighters, bottle caps. From this motley trash Cragg lays out his mosaics, often with quite transparent political overtones.
It is important that, despite moving to Germany, Cragg retained an obvious connection precisely with the British new wave in art. His demonstrative rejection of traditional and expensive stone and metal in favor of penny rubber and plastic, resistance to traditional forms, work with trash fit well into the context of the protest British punk revolution of the late 70s.
"Monastery", 1988
One of the most famous works, although it retains traces of readymade, symbolizes Cragg's gradual departure from the specifics of "garbage" protest towards abstract work with color and form. Giant cones directed upwards, assembled from some kind of used industrial mechanisms, - in fact, the artist repeats the same trick in them as before, but only now he does it much cleaner and thinner. Avoiding direct references, he conveys his idea only with the help of soft, like a patina on bronze, color, deftly refracting the viewer's perception - making him see what is not.
"Absolutely omnivorous", 1995
Tony Cragg's sculptures are often compared to works of primitive art for their primitive form and obvious imitation of nature. Cragg is generally interested in history and has a weakness for natural science museums, however, exactly to the extent that they can satisfy his interest as a sculptor. His "archaeological" works, like this huge jaw, are captivating precisely because, on the one hand, they seem familiar, and on the other, they seem to be taken from some parallel reality - the one that exists in paleontology museums or textbooks. Thus, the giant teeth placed on the table and under the table, fastened with thick wire, still remain a metaphor of ancient fear, but as if skillfully reconstructed and exposed, and therefore tamed.
Concentration, 1999
Like Absolutely Omnivorous, this work gravitates more towards the installation genre than sculpture. Nevertheless, the boat full of trash and covered with metal hooks illustrates well one of the basic principles of Cragg's work - he tries to deprive his sculpture of any functionality. He refuses to explain his work, and the titles that he gives them, although they direct the viewer's mind in a certain direction, in reality only confuse more and more. They are just a bait, on which Cragg catches the gullible to mutual pleasure, moreover, not trying to hide the deception at all - no, he deliberately draws attention to it. He sparingly drives in his hooks, over and over again - so that the old, apparently forgotten somewhere in the barn, the boat seemed to float in this haze he created, as intended, without purpose and meaning.
"Caught asleep", 2006
Huge fossil, shell, or sea-licked rock, this sculpture is actually made from jamesonite, a cheap composite material used to build fake columns in nouveau riche homes. Cragg, who has long ceased to despise the precious material like marble or bronze, still enjoys the opportunity to turn dirt into gold. Actually, this also applies to the plots that he chooses. Fleeting human emotions are his frequent motives. Out of some absurdity, momentary embarrassment, inarticulate sleepy murmurs, Cragg makes a monumental statue filled with completely unexpected significance, like a fly accidentally caught under a magnifying glass.
In 2005, Moscow hosted a retrospective of one of the leading sculptors of our time Tony Cragg at the Central House of Artists. The exhibition made enough noise and was one of the most visited at that moment - then, as, indeed, now, the capital was not spoiled by visits by international star artists. And one of the founders of the movement "New British Sculpture"(his associates were artists such as Anish Kapoor, Barry Flanagan and Anthony Gormley), who emerged in the early 1980s, came to Opening Day, was extremely sweet and handed out interviews in batches. Now St. Petersburg is next in line, where his exhibition will open on March 2 "Sculpture and Drawings" at the General Staff Building of the State Hermitage, which from year to year is confirmed as the flagship of contemporary art in the northern capital.
1. False idols, Gremania, 2011
2. Elliptical column, Germany, 2012
Today the 66-year-old sculptor lives in Germany, and his recognizable floating forms made of steel and bronze, in which a thoughtful viewer distinguishes between human profiles and elements, filled many squares and squares of the world, from Shanghai to Houston.
A stack of clear glass, Germany, 2000
© Tony Cragg Studio, Fondazione Berengo
This kind of work will also come to the exhibition in the Hermitage, as well as many graphics and works from a variety of materials - glass, rubber, wood, concrete - created in different years under the influence of Italian arte povera ("poor art")... Cragg usually attributes the use of these materials in his sculptural installations to technical and artistic progress: “Hundreds of new materials appeared in the XX century, and Marcel Duchamp realized at the beginning of the last century that anything can be a sculpture. Including an industrially made object, even an ordinary urinal. And we just cannot ignore all these innovations. "
Monastery, Germany, 1988
© Tony Cragg Studio, Fondazione Berengo
This spring, the State Hermitage Museum begins together with Tony Cragg, one of the founders of the New British Sculpture movement and a man who is welcomed with open arms by any museums, galleries and art fairs. After more than 250 personal exhibitions in different parts of the world (and in Moscow, which was brilliantly held in the Central House of Artists in 2005), he finally got to the main St. Petersburg museum.
Appreciate the work done especially for the Hermitage
The exhibition “Tony Cragg. Sculpture and Drawings ”the artist prepared specially for St. Petersburg with the participation of the Berengo Foundation and the support of the Italian brand Falconeri. It includes works from different years that have already become classics, such as the compositions "Monastery" and "Absolutely omnivorous", and completely new ones, made of glass. In addition, in the General Staff building you will be able to see the graphic works of the last two decades, much less known in comparison with Cragg's flowing sculptures.
Keep abreast of the Hermitage 20/21 project
With the opening of the General Staff Building in the State Hermitage, they began to focus on contemporary art: after the Chapman brothers' exhibition, the Manifesto Biennale, and other events related to this area, Tony Cragg's exposition becomes a logical continuation of the course taken by the museum. It is included in the Hermitage 20/21 project, designed to collect, exhibit and study art of the 20th and 21st centuries. ekov, and its curator was Dmitry Ozerkov, head of the Department of Contemporary Art of the State Hermitage, candidate of philosophical sciences.
Tony Cragg
Learn more about the artist
In addition to being a Turner Prize winner and one of the most expensive contemporary sculptors, Tony Cragg, you will learn about his early commitment to minimalism and conceptual art, about his first works from household waste, the Sculpture Park near Wuppertal, where he has lived and worked since the late seventies. and also about the peculiarities of his artistic taste and worldview.
Get to Tony Cragg's lecture
Anyone who is already familiar with the sculptor's work firsthand will be doubly interested in going to his lecture timed to coincide with the exhibition, as well as to master classes and round tables. We follow the dates of events on the official website of the museum.
Get inspired
The poetic floating forms for which Tony Cragg's work is famous reflects his interest in sculpture, free from the concepts of "suitability", "applicability", "usefulness" and "service". The artist admires the human ability to be aware of his earthly existence and reflect on it, and this has always been the case. Back in 1985, Cragg emphasized that he was primarily interested in objects that do not exist in the natural or functional world, those that can convey his feelings from the world and his own existence.