(born in Liverpool in 1949)
Stacks (Grey), 2020, inscribed Cragg on the stand, murano glass casting, 40 x 27 x 24 cm, no. 1 from the edition of 8 examples (+ 4 A. P.), editor Berengo Studio, Venice

Certificate:
Berengo Studio, Venice, signed by the studio and the artist (in copy)

Tony Cragg had already shifted his focus from painting to sculpture during his studies at the Gloucestershire College of Art and Design and the London Royal College of Art. Cragg's sculptures are primarily characterised by their undulating, figurative structure. The principle of stacking runs like a red thread through his artistic work.
Tony Cragg produces his glass sculptures on the island of Murano. Over the years, he has continued to experiment with the medium alongside local glass masters. Cragg uses the material innovatively.
The 40cm high glass sculpture offered for sale here belongs to Cragg's series "Stacks". The sculpture corresponds in its basic compositional structure to a spiral that tapers towards the bottom. The hardened glass stacks on top of each other like individual layers of rock. The tapering shape of the sculpture creates an apparent lightness that contradicts the compact cast of Murano glass. In recent years, the British-born artist has worked extensively with glass. He comments:

“Glass is a liquid, forms its own shapes on the surface, drops, spheres, strands. The glass forms itself in the hand - that is always a magical moment with the material. It's similar to drawing with a pencil: graphite on pulp sometimes determines more than you give yourself credit for.”
(https://blog.dorotheum.com/de/tony-cragg-material-und-materie/, 22 August 2022)