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For immediate release

Public Art Fund presents?

Tony Cragg
at Central Park

a pair of elegant bronze sculptures to be installed at Doris C. Freedman Plaza (5th Ave at 60th Street)

On View May 23 - September 2001

New York, NY - For the summer months the Public Art Fund will exhibit two bronze sculptures by British artist Tony Cragg. The two sculptures, Turbo and Ferryman, make their U.S. debut at the entrance to Central Park at Doris C. Freedman Plaza (Fifth Avenue at 60th Street). These elegant sculptures are two of Cragg's most recent creations and highlight on his continued focus on organic form and formal sculptural concerns.

Turbo, the taller of the two sculptures, stands 6 ½ feet tall and is composed of a series of four irregular bronze discs stacked one on top of the other. Like a spinning top, the oblique spherical form creates a sense of motion, the work seemingly shifts from left to right, shrinking and expanding from top to bottom. The density of this twisted form contrasts vividly with the motion it conveys. Intrigued by what he has termed "the principle of using circles in balance," Cragg has created a number of works based on varied dimensions of stacked discs as a tool to investigate the formal qualities of bronze.

Organic, Ferryman stretches out along the ground like a giant sleeping cat. Its perforated surface and bloated form relay an airy weightlessness that should be anethema to describing a large-scale bronze sculpture. Cragg, known for using a vast array of materials achieves his desired formal effects, creating a bulbous creature gently resting on the ground. Measuring four feet high and eight feet long, Ferryman's imposing size contradicts and amplifies its lacey frame. Unlike the geometric Turbo, Ferryman seems to have developed out of a series of organic growths - almost tumor like in their irregularity - with waves and mounds pushing and pulling on its protruding limbs.

About Tony Cragg
Internationally recognized as one of the leading abstract sculptors of his generation. For over thirty years, Cragg has produced a highly influential body of work centered on the manipulation of shapes and surfaces as they relate to the human environment. Using such diverse materials as bronze, glass, and found objects, Cragg has created enigmatic works that meld bio-morphic shapes with otherworldly textures. In 1988, Tony Cragg was awarded the Turner Prize from Tate Gallery, London, England. Tony Cragg has exhibited throughout the world including The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; The Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas; the Tate Gallery, London, England; Musee National d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Wiener Secession, Vienna, Austria; and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain.

Tony Cragg's Turbo and Ferryman, were most recently shown at the Royal Academy of Art, London, as part of their 1999 Summer Exhibition.

The exhibition of Tony Cragg's Turbo and Ferryman is made possible by Bloomberg.

About Public Art Fund
The Public Art Fund is New York's leading presenter of artists' projects, new commissions, installations and exhibitions in public spaces. With twenty-five years of experience and an international reputation, the Public Art Fund identifies, coordinates and realizes a diversity of major projects by both established and emerging artists throughout New York City. By bringing artworks outside the traditional context of museums and galleries, the Public Art Fund provides a unique platform for an unparalleled public encounter with the art of our time.

The Public Art Fund is a non-profit arts organization supported by generous gifts from individuals, foundations, and corporations, and with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

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Contact:
Public Art Fund
tel: (212) 980-4575
e-mail: press@publicartfund.org