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拍品專文
‘To take some material and to transfer in a very special way some meaning and some life, some human significance onto the material, is quite rare, very special and, in some ways also, [a] very mysterious process.’
- Tony Cragg
Executed in 2006, Black Face is a remarkable work that revels in its metamorphic character. From one perspective, the work appears monumental: two solid silhouettes are vertically arranged, staring out in opposite directions with the stoicism befitting of a Roman emperor. From another, the silhouettes dissolve into an ostensibly gravity-defying swirl of frozen marble whose carefully articulated planes gently undulate like the black waters of the River Styx. The transformational quality of the work is typical of Cragg’s practice, which is deeply invested in the exploration of material qualities and associated meanings. To this end, Cragg’s use of marble invites comparison with classical world, particularly through the lens of the traditional bust. Black Face subverts the classical trope by utilizing black marble over white and focusing on transitional forms over figurative representation. Over the highly-polished surfaces, light and shadow dance across the carefully articulated planes, highlighting a deft nose, a pronounced brow or chin, before vanishing into the depths of the medium.
Cragg’s exploration of materiality is driven by an interest in discovery and re-discovery. In the artist’s own words, ‘What always amazed me was how much new information I took away with me after every new work… I have never found it interesting to make sculptures that represent existing objects and I rarely set out with the intention of presenting a pre-described message. I prefer looking forward to a new experience and a new acquaintance… This tendency to look forward has for me a generative quality’ (T. Cragg, In and Out of Material, Cologne, Germany, 2006, p.118). Cragg perceives his work as part of a generation in so far as every work is related to another as if part of a family, genus or species. The perception of his work as organic lends itself to the present sculpture’s aesthetic, which appears moulded by the vicissitudes of nature. Moreover, Black Face’s shifting outlines hark back to the beginnings of Cragg’s practice, which engaged with three dimensional volumes graphically by focusing on the contour of masses. This individual approach to sculpture and its relationship to space would win him the Turner Prize in 1988 and go on to represent Great Britain in that same year at the 42nd Venice Biennale. Individual in its choice of material, black marble being a rarity in Cragg’s oeuvre, the multiplicity of illusory perspectives and mastery of the medium mark Black Face out as an embodiment of the artist’s conceptual practice.
- Tony Cragg
Executed in 2006, Black Face is a remarkable work that revels in its metamorphic character. From one perspective, the work appears monumental: two solid silhouettes are vertically arranged, staring out in opposite directions with the stoicism befitting of a Roman emperor. From another, the silhouettes dissolve into an ostensibly gravity-defying swirl of frozen marble whose carefully articulated planes gently undulate like the black waters of the River Styx. The transformational quality of the work is typical of Cragg’s practice, which is deeply invested in the exploration of material qualities and associated meanings. To this end, Cragg’s use of marble invites comparison with classical world, particularly through the lens of the traditional bust. Black Face subverts the classical trope by utilizing black marble over white and focusing on transitional forms over figurative representation. Over the highly-polished surfaces, light and shadow dance across the carefully articulated planes, highlighting a deft nose, a pronounced brow or chin, before vanishing into the depths of the medium.
Cragg’s exploration of materiality is driven by an interest in discovery and re-discovery. In the artist’s own words, ‘What always amazed me was how much new information I took away with me after every new work… I have never found it interesting to make sculptures that represent existing objects and I rarely set out with the intention of presenting a pre-described message. I prefer looking forward to a new experience and a new acquaintance… This tendency to look forward has for me a generative quality’ (T. Cragg, In and Out of Material, Cologne, Germany, 2006, p.118). Cragg perceives his work as part of a generation in so far as every work is related to another as if part of a family, genus or species. The perception of his work as organic lends itself to the present sculpture’s aesthetic, which appears moulded by the vicissitudes of nature. Moreover, Black Face’s shifting outlines hark back to the beginnings of Cragg’s practice, which engaged with three dimensional volumes graphically by focusing on the contour of masses. This individual approach to sculpture and its relationship to space would win him the Turner Prize in 1988 and go on to represent Great Britain in that same year at the 42nd Venice Biennale. Individual in its choice of material, black marble being a rarity in Cragg’s oeuvre, the multiplicity of illusory perspectives and mastery of the medium mark Black Face out as an embodiment of the artist’s conceptual practice.