Real and Abstracted
Antony Gormley, Slabworks series, 2019
80mm and 90mm weathering steel slab
Fourteen sculptures are distributed across the floor. The dense, hard-edged steel slabs have been cut with extreme precision using industrial methods. As we navigate between the works, what first appear to be building-like constructions are revealed as human forms. Stark, geometric volumes replace the human structure of bone, muscle, tissue and skin. Each sculpture is made simply by stacking one mass upon another; in some, as few as seven elements make up a body. Despite this extreme abstraction of form, the finely-tuned proportions trigger our recognition; we sense a human presence. Lying at rest, hunched, extended or standing, each pose evokes a certain bearing or attitude.
Moving from work to work, as if we are giants in a strange cityscape, these “beings” call on our emotions.
[Royal Academy]
Taken at Antony Gormley
(21 September — 3 December 2019)
The exhibition will explore Gormley’s wide-ranging use of organic, industrial and elemental materials over the years, including iron, steel, hand-beaten lead, seawater and clay. We will also bring to light rarely-seen early works from the 1970s and 1980s, some of which led to Gormley using his own body as a tool to create work, as well as a selection of his pocket sketchbooks and drawings.
Throughout a series of experiential installations, some brand-new, some remade for the RA’s galleries, we will invite visitors to slow down and become aware of their own bodies. Highlights include Clearing VII, an immersive ‘drawing in space’ made from kilometres of coiled, flexible metal, and Lost Horizon I, 24 life-size cast iron figures set at different orientations on the walls, floor and ceiling – challenging our perception of which way is up.
Perhaps best-known for his 200-tonne Angel of the North installation near Gateshead, and his project involving 2,400 members of the public for Trafalgar Square’s the Fourth Plinth, Antony Gormley is one of the UK’s most celebrated sculptors.
[Royal Academy]
Real and Abstracted
Antony Gormley, Slabworks series, 2019
80mm and 90mm weathering steel slab
Fourteen sculptures are distributed across the floor. The dense, hard-edged steel slabs have been cut with extreme precision using industrial methods. As we navigate between the works, what first appear to be building-like constructions are revealed as human forms. Stark, geometric volumes replace the human structure of bone, muscle, tissue and skin. Each sculpture is made simply by stacking one mass upon another; in some, as few as seven elements make up a body. Despite this extreme abstraction of form, the finely-tuned proportions trigger our recognition; we sense a human presence. Lying at rest, hunched, extended or standing, each pose evokes a certain bearing or attitude.
Moving from work to work, as if we are giants in a strange cityscape, these “beings” call on our emotions.
[Royal Academy]
Taken at Antony Gormley
(21 September — 3 December 2019)
The exhibition will explore Gormley’s wide-ranging use of organic, industrial and elemental materials over the years, including iron, steel, hand-beaten lead, seawater and clay. We will also bring to light rarely-seen early works from the 1970s and 1980s, some of which led to Gormley using his own body as a tool to create work, as well as a selection of his pocket sketchbooks and drawings.
Throughout a series of experiential installations, some brand-new, some remade for the RA’s galleries, we will invite visitors to slow down and become aware of their own bodies. Highlights include Clearing VII, an immersive ‘drawing in space’ made from kilometres of coiled, flexible metal, and Lost Horizon I, 24 life-size cast iron figures set at different orientations on the walls, floor and ceiling – challenging our perception of which way is up.
Perhaps best-known for his 200-tonne Angel of the North installation near Gateshead, and his project involving 2,400 members of the public for Trafalgar Square’s the Fourth Plinth, Antony Gormley is one of the UK’s most celebrated sculptors.
[Royal Academy]