Dirimart is delighted to present Sculpture, Tony Cragg’s first solo exhibition at the gallery. Featuring complex, multi-formed sculptures in bronze, wood, aluminium and steel, the exhibition focuses on the artist’s recent body of work, bringing together a selection of new pieces developed in parallel with these series. Through his layered sculptural formations, Cragg invites viewers to explore both the organic and the intentional boundaries of sculpture. These polymorphic structures, which extend from the artist’s long-standing research into industrial materials, establish a continuity between his earlier and current productions while revealing the distinctive qualities of his practice. Including both smaller-scale works and monumental pieces that extend from the interior of the gallery into its garden, the exhibition evokes a range of perceptual experiences.
Tony Cragg has developed a distinctive artistic practice that combines invention, experimentation and imagination in exploring the relationship between nature and the man-made world. Working with materials such as marble, glass, sandstone, fibreglass, wood and steel, the artist has evolved from his early assemblages of industrial and everyday objects into fluid, layered forms shaped through delicate modulation. Focusing not on direct representation but on the expressive power of matter itself, Cragg expands the limits of sculpture by investigating the intrinsic movement, mass and molecular order of each material. His use of man-made substances stems from a desire to confront the viewer with the unnoticed relationships formed with everyday objects. Drawing on materials that originate from nature yet are transformed by human intervention, Cragg’s practice invites us to reconsider how we perceive our physical environment and the interplay between nature and the artificial world. His sculptures become poetic metaphors for the complexity of knowledge and experience.
The sculptures on view prompt reflection on the boundaries between nature and the artificial, addressing the intricate relationship between human beings and their environment through materials such as bronze, wood, corten steel and stone. Produced between 2011 and 2025, these works reinterpret notions of scale, volume and balance through the inherent properties of their materials. Using a method of layering developed since the 1970s, Cragg assembles disparate elements into cohesive yet fluid wholes, rendering visible a sense of movement, growth and transformation through dynamic, gestural forms. He investigates the tension between the rational inner structure of materials and the subjective responses they evoke, examining the interplay between form and surface through the veins of marble, the vivid patina of bronze, the density of cast iron and the grain of wood. In these sculptures, where natural materials take on synthetic appearances and synthetic ones appear organic, Cragg reveals the boundless potential of form. Undulating and fluid surfaces transcend memory, perception and physical experience, opening the gates to a world that is both earthly and poetic.
In his Masks series, Cragg begins with multiplied profiles of the human face, creating a physical and emotional connection through variations in scale, material density and the bodily responses they elicit. Through the interplay of interwoven forms, he dissolves the boundaries between figure and landscape, revealing the mutable relationship between the human body and nature. From certain angles, facial contours emerge clearly before dissolving back into abstraction. The Industrial Nature series merges the organic rhythms of nature with the rational order of human-made structures. Here, mechanical construction and natural growth processes intertwine, exposing the permeability of the border between nature and industry. Karst (2020) draws inspiration from natural erosion processes, visualising the transformation of matter over time. Reminiscent of geological strata formed by the dissolution of limestone, this monumental work translates nature’s slow and patient sculpting into abstract energy. The Incident series, meanwhile, redefines the relationship between form and space through the reflective and flexible nature of steel. Its elegantly upward-curving forms defy gravity and engage with their surroundings, generating an ever-shifting visual experience.
Despite the weight of their materials, Cragg’s sculptures convey a powerful sense of movement and vitality. Bringing together contrasting forms and surfaces, Sculpture will be on view at Dirimart Dolapdere from 15 December 2025 to 18 January 2026.
Location: Dirimart Dolapdere
