Envelope
1996
Tony Cragg
How can we adapt familiar forms to evoke new responses, relationships, and meanings? Tony Cragg has created a giant jar that looks very attractive from a distance with its shiny, undulating surface. From closer by, the shape appears much rougher, much less massive and compact.
Details
- Plan number: V06
- Zone: Entanglement
- Title: Envelope
- Creator: Tony Cragg
- Date: 1996
- Material: bronze
- Acquisition: donation
- Object number: MID.B.491
The coarsely drilled circles become peepholes that draw our gaze to the space within the sculpture, but also to its natural surroundings. Hence, the jar is no longer just a shell, but an object that reinforces our relationship with the environment.
“Art shows us who we are and where we stand. Ultimately all art, no matter how abstract, revolves around and relates to the human figure and human nature.”
This artwork represents both separation from nature and total absorption into it. It is a trap, a snare, a frame in which nature is caught, and at the same time, it is made in such a way that the wind and the landscape “blow” through it everywhere.
British sculptor Anthony (Tony) Cragg has lived and worked in Germany since 1977, where he also founded a sculpture park. Cragg explores the relationship between people and their material environment. For him, sculpture is a study of how matter and form influence our ideas and emotions. In his early works, he used found objects, but since 1986 he has preferred raw materials to recycled objects, using wood, bronze, glass, ceramic, and polymers.
This artwork on the map
Easily navigate to Envelope by Tony Cragg and add it to your planned route.