Tony Cragg comes from Liverpool, where he was born in 1949. He studied, among others, at the Royal College of Art in London (1973-77), got a lectureship in Metz (France) already in 1976. Since 1979 he has taught at the State Academy of Art in Düsseldorf, of which he became the rector in 2009.

In his earlier works he used found objects, no matter what, no matter where from. He collected them while hiking in the woods and on garbage dumps. This resulted in an appealing combination of natural and man-made things. He pinned the things to walls so that they filled a specially shaped part of the wall in loose distribution, breaking it up with many colors and different shapes. A constant dialogue between the overall form and the references and contrasts between the individual parts made these works exceedingly lively. His formal spectrum was also broad, ranging from the filigree to the coarse, from the exquisite to the grotesque.

Cragg also referenced the human form, both in his wall reliefs and in his sculptures, which for a time consisted of multi-layered but monochromatic material. In this series, he also created a number of works that accentuated the trace of movement in space, as if a moving object had left a void that was filled in, becoming an object that could be touched. Later works are concerned with exploring the aesthetic properties of irregularly twisted forms that, while resting in perfect balance on the floor, give the impression of apparent motion and moving uncertainty.

2024

Tony Cragg at Castle Howard, Castle Howard, York

TONY CRAGG | PLEASE TOUCH!, Museum Kunstpalast, Düseldorf

2019

Tony Cragg Espécies Raras, Museu Brasileiro da Escultura e Ecologia, São Paulo

Tony Cragg in Boboli Gardens, Florenz

Tony Cragg - Skulpturen und Zeichnungen, Franz Marc Museum, Kochel

Tony Cragg - New Works, Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, Wuppertal

2018

"Das andere Sehen", Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, München

2017

Tony Cragg: Sculptures and Watercolors, Ludwig Museum Koblenz

2016

Tony Cragg: Unnatural Selection, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt

Tony Cragg - Retrospektive - "Parts of the World", Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal

"40 Jahre - 40 Künstler - 40 Werke", Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg

Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden - Cragg Foundation, Dauerausstellung, Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, Wuppertal

2014

Skulpturenpark, Stiftung Sculpture at Schoenthal, Kloster Schoenthal/Langenbruck

Spuren der Moderne: 20 Jahre Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg

Tony Cragg, Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku

2014

Auf der Spur der Erfindung - Bildhauer zeichnen, Akademie-Galerie, Die Neue Sammlung, Düsseldorf

Macht. Wahn. Vision. Rapunzel & Co. Von Türmen und Menschen in der Kunst, Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen

lens-based sculpture. Die Veränderung der Skulptur durch die Fotografie, Akademie der Künste, Berlin

Kunst. Bewegt. 04. Arman, Christo, Tony Cragg..., Museum Schloss Moyland

Ruhe-Störung - Streifzüge durch die Welten der Collage, MARTa Herford

2013

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt and Modernity, Getty Museum, Los Angeles

R/Evolution auf Papier, Alte Pinakothek, München

2012

Tony Cragg at Exhibition Road, Exhibition Road, London

2011

Tony Cragg: Seeing Things , Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, USA

Tony Cragg: Sculptures and Drawings, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Großbritannien