Antony Gormley
One and Other (2000)
Longside
(This work has been temporarily removed from display due to an infestation in the tree trunk. It will be relocated shortly).
Antony Gormley's work is usually based on casts of his own body. His most famous sculpture is the monumental Angel of the North sited near the A1 in Gateshead. Gormley uses this familiar human form to communicate with as many people as possible.
Gormley believes that art must be capable of many things: of making the onlooker aware of their surroundiings, of themselves and of their own existence, as well as to consider the work as a sculptural object.
One and Other reflects Gormley's individual concerns with isolation and claustrophobia, but the figure has lost any distinct features and, as such, represents the universal.
The artist chose the site for One and Other with particular care. The solitude of the individual figure is reinforced by its position high on a severed sycamore trunk, cut because it had reached the end of its natural life. One and Other stands at the threshold between the accustomed grounds of YSP and the more recently acquired Longside. It is simultaneously a reassuring signpost yet out of reach and aloof. Gormley deliberately intended that the iron should rust, the colour becoming deeper and more intense with each passing season.
Further information:
YSP Essential Sculpture Guide entry for Antony Gormley
Links:
Antony Gormley official website
Read or listen to an interview with Antony Gormley by John Tusa, Radio 3