Antony Gormley with one of his sculptural installations.
Antony Gormley’s sculptures have populated landscapes both in the UK and around the world ever since the artist rose to prominence in the 1980s. Since then, his works exploring the relationship between the human body and the spaces it inhabits have brought Gormley fame and reputation, and he is now widely regarded as one of the foremost British artists of our time.
But it isn’t simply Gormley’s sculptures that are popular; the artist’s prints usually fetch between £500 and £5,000 at auction, and they are especially popular in the United Kingdom. Often, Gormley’s prints are inspired by his various sculptures and installations, but they are also inspired by events and experiences from his own life. Below is a list of facts that you might not have known about Antony Gormley, and which may help in understanding his art.
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His Full Name Is An Acronym
Religion played a prominent role in Antony Gormley’s early life. He was raised in a Roman Catholic household with an Irish father and a German mother, and he attended a Benedictine boarding school. According to the artist, his parents named him Antony Mark David Gormley because the initials AMDG can also refer to the Latin quote, ‘Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.’ These four words, meaning ‘For the greater glory of God,’ are a famous Catholic rallying cry, and the motto of the Society of Jesus.
“Breathe” Sold at Bonhams in 2022
His Most Expensive Print Sold for £55,000
Breathe is a unique monoprint dating from 2016 which was sold by Bonhams for £55,000 in March 2022. Gormley created it by coating his body in a mix of crude oil, linseed oil, and petroleum jelly, then lying on a large sheet of handmade paper with the help of a couple of assistants wielding long poles. The resulting image has a strange, ghostlike quality, as well as political and religious undertones.
He Is Inspired By His Own Body
Gormley used his own body to create many of his early sculptures, and this is a practice that has continued throughout his career, with installations like Another Place (which also inspired a print of the same name) involving figures modelled after the artist’s own naked body.
Mostly, Gormley coats himself in Vaseline and clingfilm before his assistants cover his entire body with plaster-soaked bandages, including his eyes and mouth. Two breathing holes are left for his nostrils, and Gormley must then stay absolutely still for around ten minutes as the plaster dries. The process might not appeal to everyone, but the artist has turned it into a meditative exercise, stating that he views it as “a transition,” and that he puts all his energy into concentrating on holding the position. The next steps involve cutting Gormley free from the cast, and then using the two halves as the basis for the ensuing metal sculptures.
Antony Gormley – “Another Place”
Religion And Spirituality Inform Much Of His Work
Gormley was brought up in a Catholic household, but after reading archaeology, anthropology, and history of art at Trinity College, Cambridge, he travelled extensively in India and Sri Lanka, where he learned a lot about Buddhism and meditation. During these years, he was also struck by the way in which people created private spaces for themselves in public locations, for instance by covering their bodies in thin pieces of fabric in order to sleep at railway stations or in the streets. The first artworks he created upon his return to Britain involved placing plaster-soaked sheets over the bodies of friends to replicate this idea.
He Was Awarded A Turner Prize
Antony Gormley won the Turner Prize in 1994, partly as a result of his sculptural installation, Testing a World View, from the previous year. The installation involved five identical figures cast from Gormley’s body; all of them were bent at the waist so as to create a right angle, and then they were placed in various different positions that, according to Gormley, related “to the architecture of the space.”
The artist also said: “The work is a kind of psychological Cubism… The piece expresses the polymorphousness of the self; that in different places we become different.”
Antony Gormley – “Testing a World View”
He Was Knighted
Antony Gormley was knighted in 2014, having already been awarded an OBE in 1997, and a Turner Prize in 1994. When questioned about his knighthood, the artist stated: “I think it’s a good thing for sculpture and a recognition of the aspect of sculpture that is about a collective vision… These sorts of awards went to people, and of course still do, that have served the country in obvious ways – militarily, politically, or industrially – and now they also go to people that have opened people’s minds, and this reflects that shift.”
He Is Worried About His Carbon Footprint
Antony Gormley’s works tend to be made from huge amounts of metal and concrete, and transporting his vast installation sculptures across the world undoubtedly has a negative environmental impact. The artist has been open about his concerns, asking: “How can I justify the amount of resources that go into my work?”
He has pledged to reduce his own carbon footprint, and he’s stated that he continually revaluates established ways of working in order to further reduce his environmental impact. Gormley believes “it is important that all artists vigorously continue to make work that opens up new ways of thinking and feeling,” because they can “demonstrate each individual’s capacity for change” in the looming threat of climate emergency.
