antony gormley constructs human body grids at SKNY

a solo exhibit of new and significant early works by british artist antony gormley is on view at new york’s sean kelly gallery from now until june 18, 2016. gormley is best known for his sculptures, installations and public artworks that explore the relationship between the human body and space — a key aspect of the exhibition ‘construct’.

the show opens with ‘bridge’ — one of the earliest works made from a plaster mould of the artist’s own body. the sculpture is strengthened with fiberglass and encased in a skin of lead. visible soldering lines on its façade form distinct horizontal and vertical axes, making the body a representation of physical and spatial experiences. nearby, ‘scaffold’ — a recent work — translates the grid of lines found on ‘bridge’ into a freestanding, three-dimensional mapping of the body’s internal volumes. together, these pieces ask the viewer to consider the human form as a site of transformation, rather than a static object.

installation view of ‘construct’ at sean kelly, new york
photography by jason wyche, new york / courtesy of sean kelly, new york

in the main gallery, antony gormley’s exploration of body ‘mapping’ continues with a series of bold sculptures that elaborate on the dynamic between space and mass. visitors encounter five previously unexhibited works from gormley’s recent ‘big beamer’ series. these pieces dismantle and reconstruct the interior volume of the human form through a system of interlocking steel beams running in three axes. scaled up to one-and-a-half-times life-size, the series represents a body in five unstable moments of rest — from crouching to fully erect.

big form, 2015
mild steel bar / 114 x 93 x 102 cm
image © antony gormley / photograph by stephen white, london / courtesy of sean kelly, new york

‘construct’ concludes in the lower gallery with two new ‘stretched blockworks.’ these pieces use rectangular iron blocks to translate body space into mass. unlike the ‘big beamers,’ the volumes are stretched along a single axis to echo the forms of new york high-rises from the early twentieth century.

big pluck 2, 2016 (detail)
 mild steel bar / 281 x 81 x 48 cm.  
image © antony gormley / photograph by stephen white, london / courtesy of sean kelly, new york

scaffold, 2015
4 mm square section stainless steel bar / 198 x 46 x 36 cm
image © antony gormley / photograph by stephen white, london / courtesy of sean kelly, new york