Tony Cragg :
Kristallmantel

This work is located in an unusual intermediate domain somewhere between Nature and Art. On the one hand, the environment as it originally existed, on the other hand as it has been formed in the course of human history. The artist often starts with found objects, e.g. stones, laboratory equipment, bottles. These are often altered in material and size and developed into sculptures. Through this intervention a tension arises between what already existed and what has accidentally "resulted". Chance is also involved, in the form of the technical craftsmanship of the design process. In this way, surprising and even baffling results are achieved. In the case of the piece entitled 'Kristallmantel' (Crystal Coat), a huge piece of limestone from a quarry in Meidling near Krems was worked in the simplest manner, namely by being systematically drilled all the way through. In its form, this heavy piece of stone is completely hermetic, part of the intestines of Nature. Through systematically drilling through it, yet at the same time retaining its external contour, a new structure arises, an apparently fragile, bizarre shape. In the process, its mass becomes lost and with it the enclosed, protected aspect of the stone, its mystery. New, puzzling insights are revealed through this artistic intervention and perceptions obtained which detach the viewer from what were presumed to be fixed standpoints.
(Werkstatt Kollerschlag)