Label
Craig Kraft
Bound Diver, 1996
9’ x 16” x 9”
Steel reinforced gypsum/fiberglass neon tubing
Gift of Craig Kraft, donated in 2001
Bound Diver is a work that was made in collaboration with Bonnie Burnau, who the artist cast in this sculpture. During the time the full body cast was made, Burnau was in a battle with breast cancer. According to Craig Kraft “she was attracted to the interpersonal trust and healing attributes of the body casting process... being cast for an artwork was a part of Bonnie’s own healing process. The resultant work attempts to capture the figure in a very human state of conflict, bound yet pressing forward, free and confident.” The full-body cast, rimmed in neon tubing, creates an almost holographic space that speaks to both presence and absence. Kraft used different hues of pink luminous tubing, creating the illusion of blood flow. The juxtaposition of the brave gesture of diving and the bondage of the feet show the liminal space that Burnau occupied as she battled her diagnosis.
Over the past 35 years, Craig Kraft has gained international recognition in creating original works of art that advance the techniques he has developed while working with drawn neon lines and sculptural light volumes surrounding the figure. He has created indirectly lit negative body casts sited on buildings around the world and monumental outdoor rolled aluminum and neon sculptures. Kraft received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. For the past 25 years, he has been a faculty member of the Smithsonian Institution Studio Arts Program, teaching neon light sculpture. His artwork has been featured in over 120 exhibitions throughout the United States, with 17 being solo. He has also been a leader of the International Sculpture Conference twice, as well as invited to exhibit at The Busan Biennale Art Festival in South Korea and Hermandades Escultóricas in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. His 1995 work Falling Man, a negative body cast lit with hidden neon tubing generating a holographic style image, is sited permanently on the facade of the cell theater in New York City.