Art is last bastion of humanity: Antony Gormley

Korea Herald

14 hours ago

British sculptor's first project in which artwork and architecture grow together is unveiled at Museum San in collaboration with architect Tadao Ando
British sculptor Antony Gormley has investigated the human body through the language of sculpture. His meditation on the human form that began early in his career has expanded over the past five decades.
Gormley appeared Thursday at the newly opened space named 'Ground' at the Museum San in Wonju, Gangwon Province, created in collaboration with the Japanese artist and architect Tadao Ando. Reminiscent of a subterranean cave, the opening of "Ground" faces northeast towards the mountains.
Seven sculptures from the artist's 'Blockworks' series, created out of rusted iron and taking form of a human body, are dispersed throughout the 25-meter round interior space. In Gormley's art, such rustiness is crucial to embodying humanity.
'Rust is very important to me,' Gormley told the press. 'Because this is how the nature of iron in relation to air expresses itself. The red of iron, when exposed to oxygen, is the same as the red in our blood, which does a very important job in terms of transmitting oxygen from the air to our muscles.'
The quiet and meditative space replicates the spherical nature of the planet. The sunlight that comes through the ceiling and the opening toward the outside makes the space into a solar clock.
'A piece of sculpture is still and silent,' he said. 'But it waits for our movement, our thinking, our feeling. I hope these seven stopping places (of sculptures) wait for your projection of your thinking and your feeling into the space.
'I look forward to the continuation of the development of this work because the work does not exist until there are people who are looking, feeling and participating in this space.'
The artist expressed gratitude to Ando, saying the place is a 'fulfillment of his dream' to make a singular work where sculpture, architecture, light and nature come together.
Humanity emerged as a dominant concern when the artist spoke of his works and the new space during the press tour, which resonates in a time when technologies such as artificial intelligence continuously gain prominence.
Creating sculptures with an artist's touch and appreciating such art are a way for people to engage with the body, the artist said.
'We have to be careful to retain our animal natures. Wet brains will not be replaced by dry ones,' he said. 'If we are not careful, we will lose that part of being human — that ability to respond to other bodies living and materials with which we share the world.
'I believe that art is the final ground on which we have to recover our humanity. It sounds very desperate. I am not desperate, but I am aware how fragile the collective future is,' he said.
'Drawing on Space,' another exhibition of Gormely's works, including a site-specific aluminum installation "Orbit Field II," is also running at the museum through Nov. 30.