Antony Gormley
Antony Gormley is a British contemporary sculptor born in 1950. His works focus on the human body in relation to surrounding space and he often uses his own body for the basis of metal casts. Gormley pursued art after studying anthropology in Cambridge and practicing Buddhist meditation in India and Sri Lanka, both of which heavily influenced his concepts and works. Interested in artists who explored the relationship between sculpture and space, he drew inspiration from the postminimalist works of Richard Serra (where the sculpture is reduced to its most fundamental features) and from the landscape art of Walter de Maria and Robert Smithson.
One of the few pieces Gormley made that is not of the adult- size figure is …show more content…
The small baby is taken away from its natural place (from the nurturing of the mother) and is left in isolation in the huge gallery space. Although it is life size, the sculpture is dwarfed even more by the scale of the gallery; Gormley uses this scale to heighten the viewer’s experience by reinforcing that sense of fragility. Another idea that Gormley explores is the idea of the body as space, a recurring idea that is conveyed in all his works. According to him, the method of casting creates skin like cases that contain empty air inside. To him, this empty air is representative of both absence and infinity in which there is space for potential growth (growth of spirit, identity, energy) Gormley is quite spiritual with his art making, combining his creative role as an artist with his passion in Buddhist studies and meditation.
Ron Mueck
Ron Mueck is an Australian hyperrealist sculptor born in in 1958 who later moved to the UK. He originally started as a puppet maker and later created photo realistic props for the advertising industry, only transitioning to fine arts in 1996. His figurative sculptures capture the details of the human body and his works play with scale to produce eerie and jarring visual images. Many of his pieces are based on family and friends however instead of directly creating casts of his subjects, he uses fiberglass and …show more content…
In Iron Baby, Gormley uses iron and focuses on the natural simplified shape of the figure whereas in Dead Dad, Mueck uses fiberglass, resin, silicone and acrylic to capture minute details of the figure in the most realistic representation. Mueck chooses to use a heavy material to juxtapose the lightness of a newborn, while Mueck uses the texture and surface of the material, in addition to lighting effects and shadows to portray the realistic weight of flesh and the body.
Although Iron Baby and Dead Dad capture two phenomenons of life at different ends of the spectrum, the two pieces are similar in many ways. Both were created during the same time period in England, however I think their pieces are more about capturing personal experiences and conveying emotions rather than conveying what was happening historically or politically at the time. The sculptures are of each artists’ personal experience with a close relative (the birth of Gormley’s daughter and the death of Mueck’s father), and both pieces capture the subject in a somewhat defenseless state. Dead Dad is laying flat and fully exposed while Iron baby shows the subject curled up in a ball trying to be as small as possible; both are punctuated by the lighting and negative space surrounding the subject. Gormley and Mueck place the sculpture in isolation within a large room, using the relationship between
Antony Gormley is a British contemporary sculptor born in 1950. His works focus on the human body in relation to surrounding space and he often uses his own body for the basis of metal casts. Gormley pursued art after studying anthropology in Cambridge and practicing Buddhist meditation in India and Sri Lanka, both of which heavily influenced his concepts and works. Interested in artists who explored the relationship between sculpture and space, he drew inspiration from the postminimalist works of Richard Serra (where the sculpture is reduced to its most fundamental features) and from the landscape art of Walter de Maria and Robert Smithson.
One of the few pieces Gormley made that is not of the adult- size figure is …show more content…
The small baby is taken away from its natural place (from the nurturing of the mother) and is left in isolation in the huge gallery space. Although it is life size, the sculpture is dwarfed even more by the scale of the gallery; Gormley uses this scale to heighten the viewer’s experience by reinforcing that sense of fragility. Another idea that Gormley explores is the idea of the body as space, a recurring idea that is conveyed in all his works. According to him, the method of casting creates skin like cases that contain empty air inside. To him, this empty air is representative of both absence and infinity in which there is space for potential growth (growth of spirit, identity, energy) Gormley is quite spiritual with his art making, combining his creative role as an artist with his passion in Buddhist studies and meditation.
Ron Mueck
Ron Mueck is an Australian hyperrealist sculptor born in in 1958 who later moved to the UK. He originally started as a puppet maker and later created photo realistic props for the advertising industry, only transitioning to fine arts in 1996. His figurative sculptures capture the details of the human body and his works play with scale to produce eerie and jarring visual images. Many of his pieces are based on family and friends however instead of directly creating casts of his subjects, he uses fiberglass and …show more content…
In Iron Baby, Gormley uses iron and focuses on the natural simplified shape of the figure whereas in Dead Dad, Mueck uses fiberglass, resin, silicone and acrylic to capture minute details of the figure in the most realistic representation. Mueck chooses to use a heavy material to juxtapose the lightness of a newborn, while Mueck uses the texture and surface of the material, in addition to lighting effects and shadows to portray the realistic weight of flesh and the body.
Although Iron Baby and Dead Dad capture two phenomenons of life at different ends of the spectrum, the two pieces are similar in many ways. Both were created during the same time period in England, however I think their pieces are more about capturing personal experiences and conveying emotions rather than conveying what was happening historically or politically at the time. The sculptures are of each artists’ personal experience with a close relative (the birth of Gormley’s daughter and the death of Mueck’s father), and both pieces capture the subject in a somewhat defenseless state. Dead Dad is laying flat and fully exposed while Iron baby shows the subject curled up in a ball trying to be as small as possible; both are punctuated by the lighting and negative space surrounding the subject. Gormley and Mueck place the sculpture in isolation within a large room, using the relationship between