Sculptures bring Cragg's secret language to Goodwood

A giant yellow structure twisted in the shape of a lop-sided spinning top stands at the foot of a chalk pit. Farther along, a sleek, silver arc and a 46-metre (150ft) ebony bust are among a body of sculptures looming across West Sussex.

A giant yellow structure twisted in the shape of a lop-sided spinning top stands at the foot of a chalk pit. Farther along, a sleek, silver arc and a 46-metre (150ft) ebony bust are among a body of sculptures looming across West Sussex.

These monumental, seemingly windswept works are among 13 pieces being displayed by the Turner Prize-winning artist Tony Cragg in the inaugural exhibition of the Chalk Pit, a new area of the Goodwood Sculpture Park.

The bold, bronze works range from 13cm to 46m in height, with swirling silver, yellow and black forms stretching across Cragg's four-acre exhibition space.

The show is the largest exhibition of Cragg's outdoor sculptures in Britain and includes several pieces specifically created for the Cass Sculpture Foundation at the Goodwood estate.

Cragg, 55, is one of the most internationally acclaimed artists of his generation. He was born in Liverpool, but has lived and worked in Germany since 1977. He began working as a laboratory technician for a rubber producer before his artistic training. In the 1970s, he started experimenting with sculptural forms created from materials he found. He made pieces that ranged from the exquisite to the grotesque in bronze, steel, plastic, rubber and glass. He won the Turner Prize in 1988.

Wilfred Cass, who established the park with his wife, Jeannette, in 1994, said: "Tony's work is brilliant and every time I enter the Chalk Pit, I get this feeling that these pieces are speaking to each other, in fact, giggling and playing together, with their own secret language which, thanks to the placing of all the pieces, we can begin to understand."

The park's prime objective is to advance the public's enjoyment of modern British sculpture. It has exhibited the works of Marc Quinn, Sir Anthony Caro, Thomas Heatherwick and Rachel Whiteread.

A permanent display of sculpture is scattered round the 22-acre woodland area and includes creations by Antony Gormley and Eduardo Paolozzi. Most of them are for sale.

Among the foundation's other major projects is the task of coming up with an idea for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Cragg's work is on public display for the next year from tomorrow.