'In 1997, Gormley made a series of 43 collages, assembled from postcards, newsprint or photographs adhered with PVA. Additional drawing was executed in charcoal, pencil or pigment with the occasional use of soya oil, olive oil, white varnish, liquin and Tippex. The artist describes the series as, "loose assemblies making loose associations". Themes include walking and landscape; the feminine principle and the spirit world; the disembodied brain; astronomy, astrology and flight; ecology and palaeontology; body-space and the "second skin". A number include homages to other artists or their works; Pablo Picasso and Mantegna are shown here, while Goya and more contemporary artists are referenced elsewhere in the series. The use of collage opens up further sets of possibilities, allowing the artist to make free associations, to use found or imagined things, to experiment with the "frame" of architecture and drawing, to acknowledge the work of other artists and art forms and to explore "parallel worlds".

Text by Anna Moszynska, from ANTONY GORMLEY DRAWING, published by The British Museum Press, London, 2002