Antony Gormley’s career spans thirty-five years, beginning with his first solo exhibition, at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, in 1981. With sculpture as a primary medium, Gormley’s work has explored the relationship of the human body to space and time, emphasizing the body as place rather than object.
Gormley: I think it’s very important to realize that I don’t see my work as dealing with the figure. The figure comes with a whole load of baggage. Figure suggests figurative. Figure suggests figure drawing. Figure suggests the understanding of anatomy. It suggests putting the image of the body to work, in order to make a believable narrative. The word ‘figure’ comes with a huge [baggage]. I went to the body as the found object that I happen to inhabit.