10. Tony Cragg (Liverpool, Regno Unito 1949)
Sedimenti Cretacei, 1987
Gesso, legno | Plaster and wood
140 x 210 x 170 cm
Courtesy: collezione Paolo Brodbeck

L’opera di Tony Cragg (Liverpool, Regno Unito 1949) explores the complex relationships between human beings and their environment. Working across a wide range of materials and sculptural techniques, the artist investigates the deep interconnection between figure, object, and landscape—a concept that, in his vision, encompasses geological and microbiological systems as well as urban and industrial contexts.
His sculptures from the 1980s evoke everyday objects, not through mimicry, but as fragments tied to both personal and collective memory.

10. This is the case with Sedimenti Cretacei (1987), where assembled forms emerge like geological strata, resembling fossils—traces of transformation in which the human figure is subjected to the forces of time and the metamorphosis of matter. Though seemingly inert, the material is saturated with vital memory.
Installed inside the Church of San Mamiliano, the work presents itself as an accumulation of forms washed ashore by a stormy sea, as though arriving at the end of a long odyssey. These are remnants that speak of past tragedies, yet simultaneously give rise to new reflections. Some elements evoke a primordial natural world; others suggest silent bells or deafening megaphones.
In Cragg’s poetics, the human being—despite their grandeur—remains exposed to the forces of both natural and artificial processes, of which they are at once victim and agent.
His artistic vision intertwines a deep sensitivity to environmental concerns and planetary stewardship with an attentiveness to the individual’s inner world. What emerges is a powerful lyricism—both critical and political—concealed behind seductive, hypnotic forms. Yet beneath this captivating surface lies a profound tension, one that urges thought, awareness, and a renewed sense of responsibility.