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In 1978, Tony Cragg (Liverpool, 1949) began to create sculptures out of pieces of plastic from all kinds of everyday objects, in an attempt to order the detritus that builds up in urban societies. He initially arranged his collections on the floor, but they began to take over the walls and ended up growing to monumental dimensions.

Cragg believes that “objects can provide us with valuable information (…), but in reality most objects are made in an irresponsible and manipulative way. Irresponsible because people – the constructors – do not really give metaphysical thought of any kind to the meanings of the objects they make, and manipulative because things are produced for reasons of commerce and power.”
Along with artists such as Anish Kapoor, Bill Woodrow and Richard Deacon, Tony Cragg played a key role in the renewal of British Sculpture in the eighties, and was one of the driving forces behind the new dominance of sculpture and installation on the European scene.

The four works assembled for this exhibition were produced between 1980 and 1986, a period of consolidation and definition in the artist’s career.