The Gallery Thaddeus Ropac is one of my favorites but its extension in Pantin is dreadful to get to. As Jerome is working in the at area at the moment, it was an excellent excuse to go out there with Laurent, have lunch and see the Tony Cragg sculptures.
This indeed is a very important exposition of 25 of his recent works made in steel, bronze and wood along with glass fibre and stone. Cragg calls himself a « materialist » as the research he does for his sculptures is in the exploration of materials. He too is a « recuperator » and finds his materials in industrial wastes piled up, accumulated, all giving a different interpretation. (A bit like Ai Wei Wei!) In his recent works he has used iron, bronze and wood to create stratum which look practically geological.
For a few years now he appears to « include » heads, faces which constitute a leitmotiv to his work. I kept on seeing bodies, arms, backs, legs….the smaller work are new to me along with the different colors he is using. The shapes look like something l know and yet when you turn around them they become something else.
Laurent and Jerome introduced me to his work quite a while back. We saw it in the cathedral in Milan when we were there and there and in other places too. But this is exceptional. The question l ask is how on earth did they move them?
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