Art World
Sleep Inside an Antony Gormley
While Antony Gormley regularly has regularly dotted the cityscape with his anthropomorphic figures, he’s now taking things to a whole new level. Unveiled this morning, ROOM, a giant-shaped figure on the façade of London’s new Beaumont Hotel, isn’t only to be looked at. It can also be slept in—a fully functioning suite hides inside the monumental blocks.
“I take the body as our primary habitat,” commented Gormley. “ROOM contrasts a visible exterior of a body formed from large rectangular masses with an inner experience. The interior of ROOM is only 4 metres square but 10 metres high: close at body level, but lofty and open above. Shutters over the window provide total blackout and very subliminal levels of light allow me to sculpt darkness itself. My ambition for this work is that it should confront the monumental with the most personal, intimate experience.”
Turner Prize-winner Gormley is best-known for his Angel of the North public sculpture, which was controversially used as a screen for advertising by the supermarket giant Morrisons.
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