Tony Cragg Red Square, 2016

In Tony Cragg’s Early Forms, he uses ordinary vessels – used by mankind since prehistory – to create extraordinary new forms by means of duplication, elongation and other deformations of the source shape. In Red Square (2016), the underlying vessel on which the work is based has been entirely transformed into flowing swirls of painted bronze. The mouth of the vessel is elongated into parallel open ridges that encircle the work, creating a sense of constant motion. This inherent dynamism leads the viewer’s eye around the work, providing glimpses into the hidden depths of its interior and through to the space on the other side. As art historian Jon Wood says these sculptures ‘remind us that all is ultimately moving, seething and active in the world and that nothing is really static.’