Past Exhibition

Tony Cragg: Walks of Life

September 18, 2014 – February 8, 2015

Past Exhibition

Tony Cragg: Walks of Life

September 18, 2014 – February 8, 2015

Tony Cragg’s Walks of Life consists of three colossal bronze sculptures installed on three lawns. His sculptural innovations are considerable: he disregards the categories of abstraction versus figuration and makes bronze into a sensuous, malleable material. Cragg’s sculpture is characterized by repeated facial profiles and torquing imagery that reshapes the experienced world. These forms intermingle to create vital objects where contours shift and morph, provoking the viewer to differentiate between a work of humanism and a work of dynamism. Cragg has expressed that one hope for his work “would also lead to a more open-minded approach to the world around us.”

Installed in the gravel area of the park, Caldera is a strapping, tumultuous sculpture resting on three points. Viewers can walk beneath the work to experience its massive presence. At eighteen feet high, Mixed Feelings commands a northwest lawn. Three times human height, the object is simultaneously immense and elegant. Points of View is a three-part sculpture. Its sinuous forms interact with one another and with the viewer on the Oval Lawn. Facial profiles zig and zag across each column’s surface. All three sculptures were cast specifically for Madison Square Park.

About the artist

Tony Cragg (British, b. 1949) was born in Liverpool, and lives and works in Wuppertal, Germany. Cragg received a BA from Wimbledon College of Arts (1973), and an MA from Royal College of Art (1977).

He represented Britain at Venice Biennale (1988). The artist was honored as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2003). He received Turner Prize (1988), Piepenbrock Award (2002), Praemium Imperiale (2007), Cologne Fine Art Award (2012), and Lifetime Achievement in Sculpture Award from International Sculpture Center (2017). Cragg is the former Director of Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Art Academy), where he began teaching in 1988. The artist’s works are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo; and Tate, London.

Read more about the artist
About the artist

Tony Cragg (British, b. 1949) was born in Liverpool, and lives and works in Wuppertal, Germany. Cragg received a BA from Wimbledon College of Arts (1973), and an MA from Royal College of Art (1977).

He represented Britain at Venice Biennale (1988). The artist was honored as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2003). He received Turner Prize (1988), Piepenbrock Award (2002), Praemium Imperiale (2007), Cologne Fine Art Award (2012), and Lifetime Achievement in Sculpture Award from International Sculpture Center (2017). Cragg is the former Director of Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Art Academy), where he began teaching in 1988. The artist’s works are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo; and Tate, London.

Read more about the artist

About the artist

Tony Cragg (British, b. 1949) was born in Liverpool, and lives and works in Wuppertal, Germany. Cragg received a BA from Wimbledon College of Arts (1973), and an MA from Royal College of Art (1977).

He represented Britain at Venice Biennale (1988). The artist was honored as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2003). He received Turner Prize (1988), Piepenbrock Award (2002), Praemium Imperiale (2007), Cologne Fine Art Award (2012), and Lifetime Achievement in Sculpture Award from International Sculpture Center (2017). Cragg is the former Director of Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Art Academy), where he began teaching in 1988. The artist’s works are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo; and Tate, London.

Read more about the artist
Exhibition Catalogue

Tony Cragg: Walks of Life

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Press Release

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About the artist

Tony Cragg (British, b. 1949) was born in Liverpool, and lives and works in Wuppertal, Germany. Cragg received a BA from Wimbledon College of Arts (1973), and an MA from Royal College of Art (1977).

He represented Britain at Venice Biennale (1988). The artist was honored as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2003). He received Turner Prize (1988), Piepenbrock Award (2002), Praemium Imperiale (2007), Cologne Fine Art Award (2012), and Lifetime Achievement in Sculpture Award from International Sculpture Center (2017). Cragg is the former Director of Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Art Academy), where he began teaching in 1988. The artist’s works are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo; and Tate, London.

Read more about the artist

Image gallery

Photo:Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui

Exhibition Support

Major support for the art program is provided by the Charina Endowment Fund, Liane Ginsberg, Toby Devan Lewis, Pentagram Design, Sorgente Group of America, Thornton Tomasetti, Tiffany & Co., The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Anonymous. Substantial support is provided by Irving Harris Foundation, The Sol LeWitt Fund for Artist Work, the Henry Luce Foundation, Danny and Audrey Meyer, Ronald A. Pizzuti, and The Rudin Family. Major exhibition support for Walks of Life is provided by Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris/London.

Ace Hotel New York is the Official Hotel Partner of the Madison Square Park Conservancy. The art program is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The art program is supported in part with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

Tony Cragg: Walks of Life

Tony Cragg: Walks of Life

Tony Cragg: Walks of Life

Exhibition Support

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