ANTONY GORMLEY

Artist Study

Antony Gormley (1950-pres) is a British sculptor, painter and designer. He is known best for his "Angel of the North" sculpture that is located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear - standing 20 metres tall and 54 metres across, and built in steel.

The work that drew me to his art in the first place was his "Event Horizon" installation (I came across it by accident when doing research in to the film), and the thing that drew me to it was the way that the figures were placed around a horizon.

The viewer would stand in  the centre of the exhibition (set up in various city centers around the world) and would start facing one statue. If one was noticed, more could eventually be seen along the horizon (hence the title). Some of the statues heads would be facing the horizon, others would be watching the viewer from their rooftop plinths.

Another thing that has drawn me to Gormley's work is his variations on the human silhouette. The anatomy and form of his sculptures is flawless, but the body shape does not contain any visible features. I particularly like how he fills the form with geometric shapes and lines. I particularly want to convey 'chaos' in some of my character costume designs, and the asymmetrical and random shapes that make Gormley's work fantastic on the eye draws me to want to embody something like this in my studio work.

I can apply this in my studio work by trying other methods of creating a chaotic character design, reflective of the Hell setting that my concept art will take place in. I might be able to achieve something similar by breaking down a human form, or drawing on top of it in a program like Alchemy that generates random and chaotic shapes.