Tony Cragg

Description

"Dense and impacted, the mass of solid bronze might easily have looked lumpen and inert. But simply by painting it bright yellow, Cragg lends a gaiety and lightness to a piece that changes form as we circle it, as shapes that suggest first plastic bottles, then a tuba, a loudspeaker, a saddle or a car engine emerge and then recede." The slick bright yellow of the piece is reminiscent of the brightly coloured plastic objects Cragg used for his early wall pieces. Declination is characteristic of Cragg's preoccupation with surface quality and plays with traditional appropriations of bronze. The rich, sinuous form of the work and its vivid colouration belies the strength and weight of the bronze from which it is made.