We are delighted to announce the solo show dedicated to the British sculptor Tony Cragg (*1949, Liverpool) at Buchmann Lugano. Two magnificent sculptures will be on display: Stack from 2018 made of bronze with a brightly colored patina and a special slightly polished finish that gives it a stone-like appearance and Untitled, 2016 a rare one-of-a-kind piece made of red colored wood. The presentation of these two works made from different materials illustrates the movement, dynamism and sense of wonder at the seemingly limitless possibilities of sculptural form in constant transformation.
The exhibition is enriched by the graphic portfolio Waldzimmer, 2011 containing 12 lithographs in different colors. The lithographs confirm Tony Cragg's research for technology, science and abstraction as well as for nature with its complex organic forms. The artist reproduces on paper the views of a dense forest whose forms are built through the use of a binary system of the digits zero and one. As a sculptor, Tony Cragg regularly devotes himself to drawing and graphics. Already in the late eighties and early nineties he made his first graphic works such as Laboratory Still Life (aquatint, 1988), Fruit Juice Bottles (aquatint, 1990), The 1st Era (etching, 1991). So far Waldzimmer is his largest and most complex portfolio of lithographs.
Also on display some drawings that represent the point of origin of the creative process of the sculptures present, in which the dynamic lines expressed in pencil contain the idea.
Since 1978 Tony Cragg has taught at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he was also rector from 2009 to 2013. In 2007 he was awarded the prestigious Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture in Japan. In 2009 he received the recognition of Honorary Doctor of the Royal College of Art in London. In 2013 he was awarded the Chaire de Création Artistique by the Collège de France in Paris. In 2015, he is the first contemporary artist to exhibit on the terraces of Milan Cathedral during Expo. In 2016, the Queen of England appointed him Knight Bachelor (becoming Sir). In 2017 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Contemporary Sculpture from the International Sculpture Center, New Jersey, USA.
Tony Cragg has exhibited in many prestigious institutions and museums around the world. His most recent exhibitions include a solo exhibition at the Boboli Gardens, Florence, 2019. In 2017 he was invited to exhibit in Iran as the first European artist with a major monographic exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran and in 2018 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Isfahan. In Lugano in 2012 he had a solo exhibition at Villa Ciani with related catalog.
In Wuppertal, the Tony Cragg Foundation opened the Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, where in addition to his work, exhibitions of internationally renowned sculptors are presented.
Buchmann Galerie represents the artist since 1983.
