British sculptor Antony Gormley, the man who unwittingly launched the art career of Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof, will deliver a slide lecture at Moore College today at 6 p.m. in the auditorium. He is best known for his monumental sculpture, “Angel of the North,” which he did for the city of Gateshead, England (image, Gormley’s “Field for the Art Gallery of New South Wales,” 1989, terracotta, 23 X 1140 X 1050 cm, similar to one of the pieces we saw in New York).Back in 20th century, we saw an installation of his in a glitzy New York gallery. The exhibition revolted us in its militarism, shallowness, death-orientation and macho posturing. We questioned the use of lead as a material for some of the pieces, especially human forms made of lead. We also questioned the war-games aspect of the work. It seemed to celebrate war and killing and follow-the-leader straight into death, rather than to question it.
We were especially disturbed by the death imagery because we were young moms at the time. We knew we could do better. So we went straight home and started casting and building this huge, room-size piece. Maybe we didn’t do better and maybe we’re a little more ready to revisit his work.
