White marble is one of the oldest art mediums. Sculptures have been carved for centuries out of marble for both artistic and commemorative purposes. Today we would like to look at how the medium has changed. What are artists creating today with one of the most traditional art materials? We turn to three outstanding artists, Tony Cragg, Elizabeth Turk and Marzio Cecchi to answer this question.
Tony Cragg, 3D Incident, 2013.
Image courtesy of Artsy.
Tony Cragg emerged as an artist in the 70’s who questioned the boundaries of traditional materials. He works in marble, bronze, steel, glass, wood and stone. His practice relies fully on the material. He often pushes traditional forms to the edge of being unrecognizable, here a face for example, by manipulating the material to uncover its true beauty.
Elizabeth Turk, Collar 12, 2005.
Images courtesy of Elizabeth Turk.
Elizabeth Turk believes her challenge is to build a marriage between the extremely traditional (marble) with the contemporary. She enacts her sculptures through a process of reduction rather than an additive one like most artists. She chips away at the marble to create truly organic forms. Turk starts by creating a collage of seemingly unconnected forms and objects to try to reduce the imagery to the nature of organics. She then begins working with the marble. Her practice focuses on nature and creativity.
Marzio Cecchi for Studio Most, circa 1982.
Image courtesy of Pinterest.
Finally, we have marble as a functional object. Mario Cecchi has carved beautiful tables by using marble discs to create an hour glass form. This extremely rare pair shows the transformation of marble into functional delicate objects.