Paris Exibition Review

Contrary to one's experience of most retrospective shows, the first and, unfor-tunately, the last impression made by the exhibition of Tony Cragg's sculpture at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (to 15th April) is that it is not nearly large enough. The extraordinary fertility of Cragg's mind, and his immense produc-tivity, have long been remarked. More than any other major sculptor in recent memory he has mined a vast array of materials, organic and synthetic, domestic and indus-trial, amorphous and pre-formed, second-hand and pristine. Moreover, he has subjected this miscellany, whether in the form of raw matter or manufactured objects or artefacts, to a plethora of processes, bombarding some with minute plastic fragments, coating others with scores of cup-hooks, drilling yet others into skeletal, cavity-ridden shells or reconfiguring still others by means of a skein of manic, cursive graphic gestures.

             Cragg's enquiry is in essence metaphysi-cal, but its manifestations are far from con-ceptual. For crucial to the singularity (and success) of his art is his rare ability to think visually and concretely. Consequently, ideas are not only never illustrated but they can hardly even be said to be embodied. Instead of seeking to realise an idea developed ana-lytically, Cragg encapsulates the core of the concept, proposition or hypothesis in what is often a startlingly direct and succinct visual metaphor. Thus, at their best, these works operate somewhat like 'thinking models': they are open to interpretation via association and direct reference, but, equally, via an unexpected compacting of allusion generated as much by form, material, and process as by the work's ostensible subject matter. His inventive iconography and morphology is exploited to fecund and telling ends by a rigorous mining of the formal implications.

Reference:

Lynne Cooke

The Burlington Magazine
Vol. 138, No. 1117 (Apr., 1996), pp. 270-271

Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd.

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/887001