CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Gormley, A. (2015). Antony Gormley on Sculpture. London: Thames and Hudson, pp.37-38.

This analysis looks at an excerpt from an article by British contemporary sculpture master Antony Gormley. This article introduces Antony Gormley’s classic works while exploring his thinking about body and space. I selected this piece because as a designer, I think sculpture is a readable signal in the design, and it is a convenient transmission. I think the importance of the work lies in emotional moments, just like Antony Gormley’s sculptures accurately expressed his emotions and provoked the subjective response of the audience.

I focused on Antony Gormley’s “Replaced Rock” (1979) on page 37. Gormley came to the Arizona desert, picked a palm-sized stone in the desert, and threw it as far as possible, which formed a “radius”. Gormley then gathered a pile of stones into a hill in this “radius” area, stood on it, picked them up and threw them around. Gormley (2015) asserted that the act of picking up the stones and throwing them out changed the surrounding desert environment through his own body. Every stone that was thrown out by him afterwards could only fall where he could. Wherever you go, you can also be regarded as “absent” bodies. As can be seen from Gormley’s work, the body as a place is itself a pure space that exists independently, not a symbolic and narrative object.

In art history, the body appearing in sculpture usually refers to a certain deity, great man, or leader. It has very important religious and historical significance. But in Gormley’s work, this layer of narrative significance behind the sculpture is completely eliminated, and his creation is not for a symbol or a memorial. Gormley (2015) claims that his work belongs to the body itself, because everyone has a body, and the body is placed in the space. What he wants to explore is how the body behaves when placed in the space. Therefore, it can be seen from “Replaced Rock” that Gormley considers the body and emotion as a unified organism through creation, not only the brain, but also the structure of thinking and feeling. Our body will perceive its environment and give us the most direct information.

This page contains photos of “Replaced Rock”. From the photos, we can see that the author is good at expressing inner emotions through the combination of body and material and space. Gormley (2015) proposed that this work represents the movement of a living, willing, and emotional body on other bodies, a displacement that occurs in space. The body is more than just a texture, it can also convey psychology and emotion. Gormley (2015) asserts that the importance of the work lies in subjective feelings, in other words whether it can mobilize the senses and create opportunities for other thinkers. When the audience looks at the sculpture, what the audience can talk about is not what it replaces or symbolizes, but how it affects the environment and the feelings it brings.

It’s not Gormley’s sole purpose to show history to the audience and guide them on a visual roots journey. His work is to awaken the audience’s vision for the future. Gormley (2015) claims that for him, art is not a collectible or a symbol of wealth, but a way to help people rediscover how we live, to understand who we are, what we should do, and what we have value. Gormley’s works are mainly based on the body, and often use metal castings. His works try to treat the human body not only as an object, but also in a specific enclosed space. Through certain conditions, the work contains human commonality. These works are not symbolic but real. Gormley (2015) asserted that he wanted to create an environment where it showed the other side of our lives. He thinks he will never find the material closest to his own experience, that is only part of the material world in which he exists.

“Replaced Rock” clearly reflects Gormley’s exploration of the body and his reorientation and thinking of art. Gormley (2015) believes that the purpose of art is not to provide a mirror image of appearance, or to provide an anatomical mirror image of human existence, but to explore the problems behind the image. I think the body itself is an unknown universe. What is interesting is not the science but the metaphorical existence of the body, because the body is an unknown field. Gormley (2015) asserted that he wanted to see the body as a survivable space, not a known object. In modern art creation, not many artists are interested in the meaning of the body as a pure space, not as an object that can be cited or used.

Gormley’s work allows the audience to move within the space while recognizing the spatial nature of the body, and the audience’s response in the space is exactly the emotional communication the author wants to convey through the work. Gormley (2015) claims that the conditions and context created by the exhibition and works bring the audience back to life itself. To feel our weight, our speed, and our relationship with the limitations of life. Sculpture is a way of visual thinking. I think it is as important as walking to the movement of the body. Sculpture conveys emotions in the most direct way. Through this work, Gormley tries to quote the building without depicting other objects. Language to make it permeable. His works bring the audience back to the most primitive state of existence, reflecting on the delicate relationship between people and the environment. Gormley (2015) claims that the body is a “place”, a place where viewers gain experience, emotions, consciousness, memory and imagination. In our subjective world, the emotional expression that the body brings to us is another way of expressing works.

In conclusion, Gormley’s work critically explores the basic problems of human existence in the natural universe by incorporating his own participation with the bodies of others. His constant attempts to make the art space a place where new behaviors, thoughts, and feelings arise, have opened up another possibility and direction for sculpture. Gormley used to use his body as a medium and tool to shape himself in plaster and sculpture. In his research, Anthony found that the combination of body and sculpture was presented in different ways in life. For Anthony, the body is a container for perception. It is both a unique place for personal journey and a vessel shared by everyone. “Replaced Rock” treats the human body as an object as a theme, allowing each audience to integrate into it, arousing the audience’s thinking about their place in the world from a physical and psychological perspective.