VENICE.- “Fragile Nature” is a series of glass sculptures by Tony Cragg exhibited at the Hotel Metropole to coincide with The Venice Glass Week.

Materiality has always been a central concern for Tony Cragg, who continues to explore the possibilities offered by a wide range of materials to investigate the formal aspects of both natural and man-made worlds. Cragg is also interested in how these material forms, which may appear outwardly organic, ultimately influence our ideas and emotions. He has been a pioneer in realizing the potential of glass as a versatile fine art medium. He continues to create innovative sculptures at the Berengo Studio in Murano, since the first edition of Glasstress in 2009.

While this series of sculptures may seem inspired by organic forms, they do not imitate nature; rather, they focus on the materiality of glass itself, which is intrinsically linked to the processes involved in its creation. Silica, a type of sand, is the most abundant material in the earth’s crust and can be melted at very high temperatures in a furnace to become glass. The process of making glass involves all four classical elements — air, water, fire, and earth — closely intertwining it with natural processes. While these sculptures represent a kind of aesthetic perfection, they also possess an inherent fragility, perhaps unintentionally becoming a metaphor for our planet’s vulnerability to human interaction with nature.

Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool, UK, in 1949 and studied at the Royal College of Art, London. He has exhibited widely in major international museums, participated in Documenta, Kassel (1982 and 1987), and represented England at the Venice Biennale in 1988. He received the Turner Prize at the Tate Gallery, London, in 1988, the prestigious Praemium Imperiale Award in Tokyo in 2007, and the Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award in 2017. He has also held professorships at German art academies and has lived and worked in Wuppertal, Germany, since 1977.

The Venice Glass Week is an international festival founded in 2017 to celebrate, support and promote the art of glassmaking, for which the Lagoon City of Venice has been renowned around the world for over 1,000 years. The ninth edition of the festival will take place from 13th to 21st September 2025.

The Venice Glass Week is promoted and organised by Comune di Venezia, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, LE STANZE DEL VETRO – Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti and Consorzio Promovetro Murano.