16/10/2026
Contemporary Art & Design presents Tony Cragg, "The Spine".
Tony Cragg is one of the most significant artists working in contemporary sculpture. Born in Liverpool in 1949 and based in Wuppertal since the late 1970s, he has spent more than five decades exploring the possibilities of sculpture through a wide range of materials.
In ”The Spine”, Cragg takes the spine as his starting point. The rounded forms are stacked on top of one another and offset in relation to each other, creating a twisting, upward movement. The shape evokes the human body, but also vegetation and other organic structures. It is characteristic of Cragg to begin with something familiar and then guide the form towards a more abstract expression.
”The Spine” is made of glass, a material that lends the sculpture a distinctive character. Its dark, polished surface captures the light and reflects the surrounding space. As the viewer moves around the work, both its silhouette and the play of light across its surface change. What initially appears to be a solid, weighty form thereby takes on a lighter and more fluid presence.
”The Spine” clearly demonstrates Cragg’s ability to transform a simple point of departure into a complex sculptural form. The association with the spine remains, yet in glass it becomes something more — an autonomous form in constant transformation, shaped by light, space and the viewer’s position.
Read more about Contemporary Art & Design, browse the catalogue, and place your absentee bid today.
