Antony Gormley

HERMETIC LEAD BODYCASE, 1983 - 1995

I wanted to make the lead works more hermetic and enclosed, with greater internal pressure. Some are placed provisionally at the borders, fully interiorised and redundant, like STILL FEELING (CORNER) and (PROP); some, like LOCK, SHEER and CLOSE respectively, pull and flatten themselves against walls and floor - pitting their interiority against the rooms in which they find themselves.

I see the last phase of the lead bodycase works as a reaction against the pressurised, symmetrical, hieratic super-control of works like QUARTERS. In the three versions of LOST SUBJECT, the body is totally relaxed and at rest. I was keen to celebrate a sexuality that the previous work had repressed, while also acknowledging other aspects of the body as a "Lost Subject" in the time of the "Found Object".

Download text
DESERT (FOR WALTER), 1983

DESERT (FOR WALTER), 1983
Lead and fibreglass
22 x 215 x 126 cm
Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, Florida, USA
© the artist

UNTITLED [FOR FRANCIS]

UNTITLED [FOR FRANCIS], 1986
Lead, fibreglass and plaster
188 x 119 x 34 cm

SOUND I

SOUND I, 1986
Lead, fibreglass and water
188 x 60 x 45 cm

INSTRUMENT I

INSTRUMENT I, 1991
Lead, fibreglass, plaster, air and optical lens
216 x 53 x 51 cm

INSTRUMENT II

INSTRUMENT II, 1991
Lead, fibreglass, plaster, air and optical lens
213 x 74 x 51 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

SHIFT, 1991

SHIFT, 1991
Lead, plaster, fibreglass and air
198 x 57 x 23 cm

CLOSE I

CLOSE I, 1992
Lead, fibreglass, plaster and air
25 x 192 x 186 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

THE QUARTERS OF THE EARTH II

THE QUARTERS OF THE EARTH II, 1992
Lead, fibreglass and air
87 x 52 x 84 cm

STILL FEELING [PROP]

STILL FEELING [PROP], 1993
Lead, fibreglass, air,
Figure: 197 x 53 x 36 cm. 145 cm from wall
Installation view, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France, 1993
Photograph by Stephen White, London

STILL FEELING [CORNER]

STILL FEELING [CORNER], 1993
Lead, fibreglass and air
197 x 53 x 36 cm

SCALE

SCALE, 1994
Lead, fibreglass and air
185 x 100 x 60 cm

LOST SUBJECT I

LOST SUBJECT I, 1994
Lead, fibreglass, air
37 x 149 x 228 cm
Collection of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

LOST SUBJECT II

LOST SUBJECT II, 1994
Lead, fibreglass and air
27 x 128 x 236 cm

LOST SUBJECT III

LOST SUBJECT III, 1994
Lead, fibreglass and air
21 x 126 x 237 cm

STILL I

STILL I, 1994
Lead, plaster and air
13 x 19 x 30 cm

DIAPHRAGM

DIAPHRAGM, 1995
Lead, fibreglass and air
190 x 49 x 30 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London