As the first exhibition at its temporary space at the Union Française building, Istanbul Modern presents the British artist Anthony Cragg, one of the most original and innovative sculptors living today. Featuring characteristic examples from each period of the artist’s forty-year career, the exhibition reveals how Cragg has reinterpreted and transformed aspects of sculpture such as content, mass, negative space, material, colour, and scale.
Nature, people and the endless field of thought and production that surround Cragg’s sculptures define their center and are the source of their synthesis. Each of the works that he contributed to the world of form has its own roots and a close relationship with emotions. As with every great artist, Cragg establishes a palpable connection with the viewer through each work, which might remind us of a fleeting feeling, a lost emotion, the forgotten effect of a moment many years ago, or the secret behind a natural event about which we remain curious.
Born in 1949 in Liverpool, Cragg worked as a lab technician before beginning his art studies at Gloucestershire College of Art, Wimbledon School of Art, and the Royal College of Art. He has exhibited in numerous cities and art institutions since the 1970s. He was awarded the highly prestigious Turner Prize in 1988 and represented Britain in the 43rd Venice Biennale that same year. He has lived and worked in Wuppertal, Germany, since 1977