Antony Gormley

NET POLYHEDRA WORKS, 2008 - 2017

The POLYHEDRA series, which began in 2008, replaces an anatomically described body with one made of tightly nested and sharp-edged polygonal cells. This sculptural language derives from natural structures: the polycrystalline aggregation of basalt or quartz and the bubble matrices in foams and bone. The works BRIDGE (NET) and FIX (NET) (2017) recall in their condensed forms an earlier series, INSIDERS (1997- 2005), which isolates the body's core and concentrates internal sensation. These fine webs or nets are made in fine stainless steel bar: three-dimensional drawings that tremble in space.

All matter has three states: gaseous, liquid and solid. I'm trying to find this hinge between a fluid thing that's becoming solid, but also a bridge to the beholder's share in engaging with and interpreting these forms. Forms that on the one hand purport to stand for the place of a body, and therefore have human characteristics, but on the other are actually an aggregation, with the precision of geometry, but at the same time, you could say, are completely aleatory. This means that as you walk around them (and I think it's good to walk around them), they come together in different ways, and hopefully, in coming together, constitute a different sort of object. They're mutable. Put another way: as you turn around the corner of the work, it triggers a different kind of emotional engagement.

Download text
FREEZE

FREEZE, 2008
2 mm square section stainless steel wire
217 x 125 x 101 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

CUMULATE II, 2011

CUMULATE II, 2011
2 mm square section stainless steel bar
184 x 54 x 50 cm
Installation Middelheim Museum, Antwerp, Belgium, 2013
Photograph by Joris Casaer

ABSTRACT II, 2011

ABSTRACT II, 2011
2 mm square section stainless steel bar 78 x 68 x 64 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

FUSE II

FUSE II, 2011
2 mm Stainless steel
24 x 205 x 60 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

RESORT, 2011

RESORT, 2011
1.5 mm square section stainless steel bar
35 x 197 x 46 cm
Installation view, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano
Photograph by Ela Bialkowska, OKNO STUDIO

LIMN II, 2011

LIMN II, 2011
1.5 mm Stainless steel square section
168 x 55 x 48 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

FREEZE III, 2012

FREEZE III, 2012
2mm stainless steel square section
235 x 170 x 125 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

BRIDGE (NET), 2017

BRIDGE (NET), 2017
1.5 mm square section stainless steel bar
188 x 46 x 35 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

FIX (NET), 2017

FIX (NET), 2017
1.5 mm square section stainless steel bar
196 x 196 x 28 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

BOLT (NET), 2017

BOLT (NET), 2017
1.5 mm square section stainless steel bar
252 x 37 x 28 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

CORE (NET), 2017

CORE (NET), 2017
1.5 mm square section stainless steel bar
190 x 53 x 24 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London

DRAFT (NET), 2017

DRAFT (NET), 2017
1.5 mm square section stainless steel bar
192 x 44 x 33 cm
Photograph by Stephen White, London