HONG KONG EXHIBITION
No posturing in sculptor’s body of work
Antony Gormley’s new creations reflect his own form — but this time with a grotesque twist, writes Elaine Yu
Some of the figures seem to be concentrating on yoga poses. One is standing on its head, another lies with its upper back and legs lifted, its "core" apparently hard at work. Antony Gormley’s new creations, a series titled Rooting the Synapse unveiled in Hong Kong last week, are as always modelled on his own form — but this time with jagged limbs branching out like plants, spindly and skeletal. Arguably the UK’s best-known modern sculptor, Gormley has spent his career exploring the human body’s relationship to space, with his Angel of the North, a steel, winged behemoth installed on a hill in northeastern England in 1998, catapulting him to fame. His shadowy human figures loomed from the top of Hong Kong’s skyscrapers in 2015 and 2016 as part of his Event Horizon show, causing curiosity and consternation in the streets below, where some feared they were people about to jump to their deaths. Gormley, 67, insists his figures contain no narratives and are not trying to tell a story, bu...
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