Migrant, 2015, prink bronze and behind, Sail, 2015, wood

I speak so often of Thaddaeus Ropac’s Pantin gallery in this diary, that you are going to think he has bewitched me. Well, it is almost the case since every time I go (and this time I even went the week before by mistake) to an opening there, I come back happy !

Runner, 2013, red wood

Anthony Douglas Cragg, whose work I have only seen in Belgian collector’s gardens or in museums, surprised me with his versatility and his genius technique. Born in Liverpool in 1949, but a resident of Wuppertal since 1977, Tony Cragg is a laureate of the Turner Prize and of the Japanese Praemium Imperiale. He has taught at Collège de France in Paris and at the Düsseldorf Academy of art, where he was Rector. He has been exhibited everywhere from the Benaki Museum in Athens to Chengdu MOCA in Beijing.

Detail of Pair, 2014, wood

This show of 25 sculptures, is full of surprises, for every piece exhibited can be seen from many different angles. « The artists’s distinguished feature is his primary concern to find new, unprecedented forms that amaze the viewer by their unusual biomorphic and technoid references » says the catalog. Whether in pink bronze like « Migrant », in red wood like « Runner » or in white marble like « Couple », Tony Cragg uses materials in imaginative new ways.

Detail of Contradiction, 2014, wood

The details of his yellow wood « Pair » are fascinating and the workmanship involved impressive. I was surprised to find crowds, on this grey Sunday afternoon, who had flocked to Pantin with their children or their trendy friends. So forgive me for insisting once more. This show (at 69 avenue du General Leclerc in Pantin until June 30) is a must for your well being ! (Tony Cragg will be at the Ermitage in St Petersburg until June and in Wuppertal at the Von-der Heydt-Museum until August)

It is, isn’t it, 2014, Stainless steel