Antony Gormley

OBJECT WORKS, 1981 - 1987

After NATURAL SELECTION, there was a continuing exploration of object morphology in FIVE FISHES, and of time, in objects such as ONE APPLE, that extends the idea of growth in FULL BOWL. TWELVE HOURS is an abstract work that takes the form of a snake that starts thin, gets bigger and then gets thinner again, and was made in twelve sections. NIGHT continues the theme of hidden internal darkness as a source of possibility.

VEHICLE, the largest of the object works, is a one-man glider entirely covered in lead. It is an attempt to make a physical object into a dream space: flights of the imagination conflating with extensions of the body. REFUGE was made from the largest single ballistic bullet ever made: in roughly human scale. SEEDS is a pile of .45 calibre bullets, each can be seen as an agency of passing one life into another state.

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FIVE FISHES

FIVE FISHES, 1981
Sword, fish, artillery shell, truncheon and cucumber
Lead
Arts Council Collection, England

ONE APPLE

ONE APPLE, 1982
Apples, lead and air
7 x 1110 x 7 cm

UNTITLED [11 BOWLS]

UNTITLED [11 BOWLS], 1984
Lead, 54 cm

HAT AND BOTTLE

HAT AND BOTTLE, 1985
Lead
Bottle: diameter, 14 cm
Hat: diameter, 33 cm, 9 cm deep

REFUGE

REFUGE, 1985
Lead, fibreglass and air
172 x 46 x 46 cm

12 HOURS: THE BEGINNING THE MIDDLE THE END, 1985 - 1986

12 HOURS: THE BEGINNING THE MIDDLE THE END, 1985 - 1986
Lead, fibreglass, plaster and air
23 x 28 x 840 cm

VEHICLE

VEHICLE, 1987
Lead, fibreglass, wood, steel and air, 147 x 750 x 1520 cm
Installation view, Salvatore Ala Gallery, New York, 1987
Photograph by Joseph Coscia Jr.

ISLANDS

ISLANDS, 1987
Lead, vegetables, and organs
Largest Unit: 9 x 16 x 13 cm

SEEDS II

SEEDS II, 1987
Lead
Unit size: 3.5 x 1.1 cm diam