Body building: Antony Gormley's early works get a showing in New York
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

New York's Sean Kelly gallery has dedicated its latest show to both new and early works by British artist Antony Gormley. Known and lauded for his sculptures (particularly Angel of the North, the imposing public colossus commissioned in 1994), installations and public art works exploring the human body’s relationship to space, this is Gormley’s fifth exhibition with the gallery.
Entitled ‘Construct’, the show opens with a life-size work from the series of ‘bodycases’ (dating back to 1985) called Bridge. This is one of Gormley’s earliest works, made from a plaster mold of the artist’s body, strengthened with fibreglass and encased in a skin of lead. There is also a more recent piece, from 2015, called Scaffold, in which Gormley has translated the grid of horizontal and vertical lines of Bridge into a freestanding, three-dimensional map of the internal volumes of the body. This, and so many of the artist’s works, remind the viewer to consider the body ‘less as an object and more as a site and agent of transformation’.
‘Antony Gormley’s exhibition "Construct" is particularly significant because it includes key early works, which haven’t previously been exhibited in the US, alongside Antony’s newest, most monumental series yet,’ says gallery owner Sean Kelly. ‘The exhibition draws a visual and conceptual thread from the beginnings of the artist’s practice to the present time.’
'Construct' marks Gormley’s fifth exhibition with the gallery. Pictured from left: Big Pluck, 2016, Big Skew, 2015, and Big Yield, 2015
Gormley is known and lauded for his sculptures, installations and public art works exploring the human body’s relationship to space. Pictured: Bridge, 1985
The show opens with a life-size work from Gormley's series of ‘bodycases’ called Bridge (pictured left). This is one of the artist’s earliest works, made from a plaster mold of his body, strengthened with fibreglass and encased in a skin of lead.
INFORMATION
’Construct’ is on view until 18 June. For more details, visit the Sean Kelly gallery website (opens in new tab)
ADDRESS
Sean Kelly New York
475 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
VIEW GOOGLE MAPS (opens in new tab)
-
Buckhorn Sculpture Park: inside the art paradise dreamt up by collectors Sherry and Joel Mallin
As legendary art collectors Sherry and Joel Mallin prepare to sell their upstate New York home – and the star-studded collection occupying Buckhorn, its onsite sculpture park – we go behind the scenes of this art treasure trove, and the extraordinary life, work and spirit of the Mallins
By MZ Adnan • Published
-
Extreme Cashmere brings its colourful knits to the slopes of St Moritz
Amsterdam-based brand Extreme Cashmere – known for its extensive all-cashmere wardrobe – arrives in the historic Swiss ski resort with a special pop-up and restaurant takeover
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Silver from X-rays recycled as sustainable jewellery by The Royal Mint
The 886 by The Royal Mint jewellery collection gives recycled X-ray films a new purpose
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Buckhorn Sculpture Park: inside the art paradise dreamt up by collectors Sherry and Joel Mallin
As legendary art collectors Sherry and Joel Mallin prepare to sell their upstate New York home – and the star-studded collection occupying Buckhorn, its onsite sculpture park – we go behind the scenes of this art treasure trove, and the extraordinary life, work and spirit of the Mallins
By MZ Adnan • Published
-
Theaster Gates’ New Museum exhibition meditates on mourning, materials and community
Theaster Gates talks about his first US museum show, ‘Young Lords and Their Traces’ at The New Museum (until 5 February 2023), a moving homage to the creative forces who came before
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
New York art exhibitions: what to see this winter
Stay up-to-date with our ongoing guide to the best new and upcoming New York art exhibitions and events for your diary
By Tilly Macalister-Smith • Published
-
London art exhibitions: a guide for early 2023
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Harriet Lloyd Smith • Published
-
New York photography show sees cultural icons – from David Hockney to Maya Angelou – in unguarded moments
‘Face to Face’ at New York’s International Center of Photography (27 January – 1 May 2023) sees cultural icons shot by Tacita Dean, Brigitte Lacombe and Catherine Opie
By Martha Elliott • Published
-
Michael Heizer’s Nevada ‘City’: the land art masterpiece that took 50 years to conceive
Michael Heizer’s City in the Nevada Desert (1972-2022) has been awarded ‘Best eighth wonder’ in the 2023 Wallpaper* design awards. We explore how this staggering example of land art came to be
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Inez & Vinoodh on 35 years of radical photography, being ‘two brains, one person', and judging our Design Awards
Dutch photography duo and Wallpaper* Design Awards 2023 judges Inez & Vinoodh discuss image manipulation, design aspirations, and capturing the legendary Julianne Moore
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Cyprien Gaillard on chaos, reorder and excavating a Paris in flux
We interviewed French artist Cyprien Gaillard ahead of his major two-part show, ‘Humpty \ Dumpty’ at Palais de Tokyo and Lafayette Anticipations (until 8 January 2023). Through abandoned clocks, love locks and asbestos, he dissects the human obsession with structural restoration
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published