Antony Gormley

CONCRETE WORKS, 1990 - 1993

The CONCRETE pieces attempt to materialise the space of architecture and our place within it. I used the lost wax process to cast a void in the form of a body inside a concrete block.

The series began with FLESH, the void of a fully extended body in a cross-shaped block of reinforced concrete. The cross was in the body before the body was nailed to the cross and before the cross appeared in architecture.

SENSE takes its dimensions from the minimum space necessary to enclose the body in a contracted form, and is a crouched body inside a cube. The head projects from the block so that the cavity of the head is visible, and in this work you can easily see the void behind the impression of the skin.

The concrete works are placed axially so that the faces of the blocks relate to the walls, and the compression of the internal body-shaped void relates to the surrounding architecture.

IMMERSION is a standing piece with the top of the head projecting from the block, the hands with their palms turned outwards pushing against the side of the moulding box. BASE encompasses the horizontal body with limbs extended in all directions. PASSAGE contains a void of the body fully extended in a straight axis. PRESS reverts to the hand press of SENSE, but in the position of prayer where the knees, the soles of the feet and hands all break the surface of the block.

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FLESH

FLESH, 1990
Concrete
36 x 198 x 174 cm
Photograph by David Ward, London

SENSE

SENSE, 1991
Concrete
74.5 x 62.5 x 60 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

IMMERSION

IMMERSION, 1991
Concrete
181 x 50.5 x 36.5 cm
Collection of Iwaki City Art Museum, Japan

HOME OF THE HEART I

HOME OF THE HEART I, 1992
Concrete
85 x 36 x 49 cm

HOME OF THE HEART II

HOME OF THE HEART II, 1992
Concrete
85 x 36 x 49 cm

HOME OF THE HEART III

HOME OF THE HEART III, 1992
Concrete
85 x 36 x 55 cm

BASE

BASE, 1993
Concrete
32 x 160 x 164.9 cm

PRESS

PRESS, 1993
Concrete
134 x 68 x 55 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London