I´m Alive

I’m Alive is not only a very direct sign of life from the artist, who has been living in Wuppertal for over 30 years, but also a description of his lively silver sculpture. This work was Tony Cragg’s entry for a sculpture project that took place in 2007 in the valley along the Wupper River. It remained in its location on the grassy median along Friedrich Engels-Allee on loan from the artist. The work can be seen from the suspension railway, as its reflective surface draws attention to it in its busy location that was shaped by early industrialization, wartime destruction, and subsequent reconstruction. The non-representational polished stainless steel mass looks like an energetic creature of an unknown species. Most closely resembling a snake, a worm, or a giant sperm, the form creates its own tension, with only its rounded head, and the base and tip of its tail resting on the ground. The head merges with the body and has a concave indentation. The smooth body rears up energetically in a semicircular bridge and the tail forms a second arch.
Cragg had already created his first version of I’m Alive in 2000 as part of his Rational Beings group of works, which also combined basic geometric shapes with organic structures. This sculpture’s reflective surface allows it to interact with its surroundings, while remaining a foreign body. Amidst the flow of city traffic, it asserts itself as an equally foreign as energetic statement.