Azernews.Az

Friday March 29 2024

First Lady attends British sculptor’s exhibition

10 April 2014 10:59 (UTC+04:00)
First Lady attends British sculptor’s exhibition

By Nigar Orujova

A solo exhibition of a renowned British sculptor Tony Cragg opened at the Heydar Aliyev Center on April 9.

Azerbaijan's First Lady and President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Mehriban Aliyeva and Vice-President of the Foundation Leyla Aliyeva viewed Cragg's exhibition.

The exhibition, which will run until August 31, presents 28 works of the outstanding artist who is one of the most prominent figures of modern art.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Director of the Heydar Aliyev Center Anar Alakbarov highlighted the projects carried out by the Center, which is currently also hosting the exhibitions of Azerbaijani contemporary art "Love me, Love me not" and "Fly to Baku".

He pointed to the activity of Museum of Modern Art, the "Fly to Baku" exhibition, and projects carried out by Yarat! Contemporary Art Space.

Alakbarov thanked Mehriban Aliyeva for supporting the Center's projects and congratulated Tony Cragg on his 65th anniversary.

Cragg also thanked Mehriban Aliyeva for organizing the exhibition, and expressed hope that the exhibition will be of interest.

"At the exhibition you, will get acquainted with the works that were on display in a number of European galleries," he said

Cragg said he had been interested in art since his youth. "From outside, this art may seem boring, but I think that it is not. Sculpture is one of the fastest growing areas of culture. The difference between sculpture and science is that science is trying to explain something, while in sculpture we create something from several materials," he said.

Academician Omar Eldarov, Rector of Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts, presented the diploma of emeritus professor of the Academy to Cragg.

Cragg is a visual artist who mainly works with sculptures. He was initially famous for his adaptive reuse of waste, used materials, and scrap metal constructions. Nowadays, his works are placed in a number of world's leading museums.

His statues and monuments of bronze, marble, wood, oak-tree, plastic, ceramics, porcelain, and glass also adorn streets, squares, and public and corporate spaces in London, Liverpool, Basel, Vienna, Dusseldorf, Washington DC, Atlanta, and Stockholm.

With more than 350 shows over the world, Cragg has received a prestigious Turner Award in 1988 and the Empire Award of Japan in 2007.

He is the Principal of the Art Academy (Kunstakademie) in Dusseldorf, Germany, at the moment.

Cragg is also the founder of the Sculpture Park Waldfrieden, where he has put his sculptures on display since 2008. The park witnesses changing exhibitions of internationally known artists, lectures on culture and the humanities, and concerts.

Loading...
Latest See more