Nov 30

Nov 30 Body Politic, the new Anthony Gormley exhibition

I’m an avowed and proud super-fan of the work of sculptor Anthony Gormley (as you will have gathered if you’ve read THIS BLOG). Renowned for making casts of his own body and reimagining and reinventing them in ways that make us consider how each of us interacts with the space and world around us, Gormley is responsible for some of the most monumental - like his Angel of the North - and thought-provoking sculpture of our generation. If you’ve never seen Another Place, 100 cast iron figures spread along 3 kilometres of Crosby beach on the North East coast, all of them looking out to sea in silent expectation, and many of them entirely submerged by the water at high tide, put it on your must-see list.

Now he has a new exhibition at the White Cube gallery in Bermondsey, which is running until the end of January 2024 and which he describes as “probably my most obviously political work”, hence it’s title: Body Politic

Using the sparse, white light filled spaces of the gallery to full advantage, Gormley has created a collection of different works, each of which, typically for him, inhabits its display area in a very particular and memorably powerful way.

The eight concrete shapes that line the long entrance area of the gallery are representations of bodies in different positions - either at rest or in resistance. Gormley explains that they are “bunkers” - each one is hollow and would fit precisely one body, as a place of sanctuary….or a prison. It’s as unsettling a thought as he intends it to be.

The first room in the exhibition holds what appears to be a body skewered by a criss-cross of steel bars stretching across each wall, and from ceiling to floor.

The pinioned figure is at once distressing and disturbing. Brutally anchored to its isolated, lonely spot.

Restricted in a different way is the enormous piece in the next gallery, a five metre tall figure made from a jeng-like construction of steel blocks, which towers over the opening to the gallery.

Both these works speak to Gormley’s exploration of freedom of movement and the migratory instinct that is part of our history and a very current part of our collective world.

The group of sculptures that form Test are made from iron bars, rusted from exposure to the elements and arranged in see-through body shapes that are propped up against, or leaning on, the walls and pillars of the gallery they’re displayed in.

The despair and dejection of this group is palpable and a sobering reflection of the challenges we all face in our individual and collective lives.

Then there’s the largest, and accordingly most impactful of the installations. At first glance the 244 shapes in Resting Place, each made up of fired clay blocks, appear to form an urban landscape of buildings, but closer inspection shows the maze of shapes to be bodies at rest, lying on their backs, fronts and sides, splayed, curled and stretched in a labyrinth that the visitor has to gingerly navigate.

The figures evoke a range of attitudes, some appear relaxed, some abandoned, some rigid - with fear perhaps. It is, of course, a deliberate attempt by Gormley to represent the human condition, in all it’s states.

The final area of the exhibition is a room where a film gives a fascinating glimpse into the processes and materials Gormley has used to create this typically deeply thoughtful and provocative exhibition.

“The sculpture I’m interested in absolutely refuses to decorate the world, it wants to change it,” Gormley has said. I have yet to come away from seeing any of his exhibitions or works without feeling changed in some way. And Body Politic is no different.

Body Politic is at White Cube Bermondsey until January 28 2024. Entry is free. Opening hours and other information is available on the WHITE CUBE website, where you can also see the film that is shown in the exhibition.