Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Sculptor Antony Gormley Explores the Body, Its Relationship to the Universe

British sculptor Sir Antony Gormley explores the relationships between our bodies and the world around us—and even our place in the universe. Through his work, whether in traditional settings, installations, or in public artwork, the artist focuses on the human form with varying approaches. Towering figures like "Exposure" are hunched over in contemplation in the Netherlands. Or in more controlled environments, like galleries across the world, lifesize figures like those depicted in "Domain Field" are scattered across the space.

British sculptor Sir Antony Gormley explores the relationships between our bodies and the world around us—and even our place in the universe. Through his work, whether in traditional settings, installations, or in public artwork, the artist focuses on the human form with varying approaches. Towering figures like “Exposure” are hunched over in contemplation in the Netherlands. Or in more controlled environments, like galleries across the world, lifesize figures like those depicted in “Domain Field” are scattered across the space.

In a 2015 artist statement, Gormley expounds on his exploration of the human form: “Over the years, my obsession has been to try to explore the body as a place rather than simply as an object and to reconcile its space with space at large. I want to acknowledge that while we live within a built environment and we are the only animal to construct a habitat using Euclidean principles, the moment we close our eyes and become conscious of the darkness of the body, we are in an unbounded, ever extending space without dimension. This intimate zone of experience has the same unlimited properties as the sky at night.”


Gormley, who won the Turner Prize in 1994, and he’s been a Royal Academician since 2003.


Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Russian painter Andrey Remnev pulls from both centuries-old approaches and current, graphical influences. Yet, the artist says, the material he uses are decidedly classical in nature: “As painters of the past, I use natural pigments bound with egg yolk.” Remnev was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
"A Student's Dream," the central oil painting in Mario Moore's new show, is inspired by the artist's recent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor. "Recovery" kicks off at David Klein Gallery in Detroit at the end of the month, and in the show, the artist looks at how African-American men experience recovery from hardship and trauma.
Despite their expansive celestial backdrops, Tae Lee's acrylic paintings can feel quiet and intimate. The tethering of these otherworldly forms and figurative subjects show an artist traversing internal and spiritual topics. The artist describes his work as an "exploration of place of human consciousness in an universal causality."
Joshua Hagler's new, massive oil paintings are packed with tension and political reflections, each appearing as memories emerging and dissipating. "Chimera” is his upcoming show at Unit London, named for the mythological creature or in a more contemporary sense, has “come to mean something which is hoped for, but is impossible to achieve.” The show begins on July 19 and runs through the end of August.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List