Tag Archives: antony gormley

We went to view the Angel but did not find it angelic

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RIO DE JANEIRO has its tall Cristo Redentore statue with its outstretched arms, New York City has the Statue of Liberty, and Gujarat has its tall Statue of Unity. And northeast England’s Gateshead has the Angel of the North with its outstretched wings.

 

The Angel was created by the sculptor Antony Gormley, and completed in 1998. For many years I had been looking forward to seeing it ‘in the flesh’, so to speak, and today, 22 April 2026, we drove to see it. I am sorry to say that it did not impress me. The angel’s outstretched wings, with a wingspan of 177 feet reminded me not of an angel but of a rusty aeroplane. 

 

Of the many sculptures by Gormley that I have seen over the years, this Angel is not amongst my favourites. Nevertheless,  I am glad that I have seen it, and walked around its base, but I am not sure it is worth going out of your way to see it. We happened to be staying a few miles from it in Washington,  (after which a city in the USA has been named) in Tyne and Wear, so we made a small detour to see the Angel.

It looked like a reflection but that was an illusion

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WHEN WALKING ALONG the north side of London’s Euston Road between Albany Street and Hampstead Road, I passed a metal sculpture of a man, life-size, looking into the ground floor plate glass window of a newish building, part of the Regents Place development.

At first sight, it looked as if the sculpture was being reflected by the glass. As I thought that the sculpture looked like the kind of thing created by the British sculptor Antony Gormley, I took a closer look, and saw a plate embedded on the floor next to the artwork. It read:

“Antony Gormley Reflection 2001 cast iron”.

Then, looking carefully, I realised that what I thought was a reflection was in fact a replica of the sculpture outside on the other side of the window, in the building. And as I looked at this interesting idea, I noticed that the two sculptures differed in colour, otherwise they were mirror images of each other. Simple though the sculptures are, the idea that a reflection need not be a reflection struck me as intriguing.

Man in the waves

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GORM

 

At first sight, I thought I saw a man standing alone and naked out in the waves at Margate on a sunny but very windy afternoon. Crazy, I thought to brave those rollers on suchb a cold day and without a wet suit. Then, I noticed that he was coloureed green and motionless despite the battering he was getting from the sea. He was not a man, but a sculpture.

This sculpture braving the sea is Another Time  created in 2013 by the British sculptor Antony Gormley (born 1950).

The clever thing about this sculpture is placing it in the water. Though static, the waves dashing against it can create the illusion that the sculpted man is moving. Also, by putting it in the sea, the whole sea becomes an important part of the artwork.

Although I am not too keen on Gormley’s art works, this piece at Margate, just outside the Turner Contemporary art gallery satisfies me greatly. 

You can now see the sculpture and the waves in this short video:  http://www.ipernity.com/doc/adam/48815810