Galleri Andersson/Sandstrom, Stockholm Acquired from the above by the present owner
Catalogue Essay
‘I use the construction language of the built world – pillars and lintels – to evoke the inner condition of the body, treating the body less as a thing than a place. There is a tension between a suggested symmetry and the actual articulation of a body, so that very slight variations in the alignment of the blocks can be read empathetically as an indication of the total body feeling. All of the ‘Blockworks’ attempt to treat the body as a condition; being – not doing.’ Antony Gormley
Antony Gormley’s VISE is a recent example of his ‘Cast Blockworks’ series. Composed of subtly varied blocks of cast iron, the ‘bodyform’ is delicate yet monumental, solid yet dynamic, employing structural poise to create an architectonic language that, to Gormley, articulates the internal and external human condition. As he has elaborated: ‘The “Cast Blockworks” re-describe body volume in Euclidean terms, replacing the discrete function-based structures of anatomy with architectonic volumes that use the dynamics of stacking, cantilever and balance to achieve a stable structure that is still dynamic. Increasingly, the blocks have become more robust, often extending beyond the skin in an attempt to evoke particular feelings and tensions. The challenge is to find a way to employ this architectonic language to provoke empathetic feeling in the urban-bound viewer.’ Antony Gormley