Tony Cragg

 Tony Cragg is an artist I have looked to in this project who works with ready-mades and ordinary objects to create powerful sculptural pieces. I think it's important to see how other practitioners approach this idea as it helps me imagine how my cartons might come together in their final form and give me confidence that I can make something really interesting like Cragg's.

Fruit Bottles 1989 (https://www.artnet.com/artists/tony-cragg/fruit-bottles)

These cast bronze scultpures are massively upscaled versions of fruit shaped plastic bottles, which are arranged in a group on the floor. The first thing I think is effective about this piece is the materials; the language of bronze is so vastly different to that of plastic - it is strong, valuable, heavy and goes back thousands of years as a resource used in human history. When I think of plastic I think of rubbish, tackiness, weakness and undesirability, it has a very low status compared to bronze and causes environmental destruction. Cragg's choice of materials here creates the irony of an insignificant piece of plastic packaging becoming exponentially more expensive and physically transformed into a relic-like sculpture which subverts our perception of the object. In the same way, I want my juice cartons to be elevated and seen in a different way to their original forms, as something more permanent and important.

Six Bottles (Large), State 1 1988  (https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/cragg-six-bottles-large-state)

This print shows six bleach/ cleaning product bottles that appear to have been cast from inside. On the Tate website, the dimpled surface of the bottles is described as representing that 'decay affects man-made as well as natural objects' and this is very true as we now have all the evidence of plastics breaking down into tiny fragments that have even infiltrated our bodies. This binary of nature vs manmade is a relevant theme that questions modern ways of living and our relationship with the planet which I want to embody in my work too. 

 'the quality and and nature of our environment ... is actually having a very direct effect on us, on our sensibilities, perhaps even our emotions and intellects' - Tony Cragg

His quote about our environment having a direct impact on ourselves resonated with me a lot as I find my surroundings affect how I feel on quite a deep level. It brings me down a lot to see the harm that's being done especially when there seems to be no effort being made to fix it.

Spyrogyra, 1992 (https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/292.1997/)

Spyrogyra is made from a steal spiral with rods holding an assortment of glass bottles in a vertical tree-like shape. This piece is also linked to Duchamp's Bottle Rack and is likely a parody of the work.

 With the spiral being quite an organic and mathematical form, the various bottles sprouting off at different angles add a contrasting layer of chaos like some strange mutant growth. It makes me feel that man-made objects are represented in a negative way like some kind of parasitic creatures - tics - clinging on to the steel spiral, feeding off this central, integral core. The upside-down orientation of the bottles paired with the spiral create a downward energy that shows dynamism and a sense of gravity and weightiness - it looks heavy and unsustainable, and Cragg has chosen objects that would shatter if they were to fall on the floor so that makes it even more precarious and anxiety-inducing. 

I have also found that my choice of material creates this anxious feeling in the viewer due to the fragility of the thin porcelain/ clay, and the carton's vertical, tall and narrow shape which makes them easy to topple over and break. This could stand to represent the delicate balance of nature and how human interference and carelessness leads to massive irreparable damage.

Duchamp Bottle Rack