Anthony Cragg, 1949

Born in Liverpool, United Kingdom, in 1949, Anthony Cragg worked as a laboratory technician at the Research Association of British Rubber Manufacturers between 1966-1968, then studied art in different cities across the UK. After attending Gloucestershire College of Art (1969-1970) in Cheltenham, he completed his undergraduate studies at the Wimbledon School of Art (1970-1973) and received his master's degree from the Royal College of Art in London (1973-1977). Since 1977, the artist has been living and working in Wuppertal, Germany. In 2018, Istanbul Modern's temporary space hosted Anthony Cragg’s works in a solo exhibition titled "Human Nature."

Anthony Cragg made a name for himself in the late 1970s with a series of minimalist and conceptual sculptures based on movement, where he also used his body. Later, he produced works in which he applied vividly colored, discarded objects to large surfaces and invited formal connections with different images. His sculptures, which can be grouped under several different categories based on their form, document his expert use of materials. While applying different methods to transform organic or industrial materials into sculptures, he emphasizes the importance of artisanship during production and underlines the uniqueness of each work.

In his work “Runner”, one can find the organic forms which the artist captures through the swirling energy and movement that he creates on the surface of his sculptures. In this work, while exploring the different possibilities that a material like fiberglass has to offer to the artist, Cragg freezes a split-second moment as perceived by the eye during the human act of running.