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Lot Essay
Réalisée en 2013, Small Witness s’inscrit dans la série des Small Blockworks d’Antony Gormley, qu’il a commencée cette année-là. D’une hauteur d’un mètre, cette sculpture propose une vision élémentaire de la silhouette humaine, composée de blocs de fonte empilés qui ressemblent à des pixels. Les Small Blockworks sont des modèles pour les Blockworks à plus grande échelle de Gormley, qui s’efforcent de créer une impression de corps humain par les moyens les plus économiques ; tous possèdent un pied allongé, qui sert de base à la sculpture. Tout au long de sa carrière, Gormley a cherché à saisir le sens de la façon dont nous occupons à la fois notre corps et l’espace qui nous entoure. Ses personnages n’interprètent pas de rôles et n’accomplissent pas d’actions ; ils existent simplement dans le monde, invitant le spectateur à contempler à son tour sa propre constitution physique et psychologique. À propos des Blockworks, Gormley explique : « J’essaie de laisser une construction improvisée évoquer un état interne. Le succès d’une œuvre dépend de la tension absolue entre la clarté matérielle des blocs d’acier et le sentiment de vulnérabilité et d’exposition de la forme » (A. Gormley, cité sur https://www.antonygormley.com/sculpture/item-view/id/221).
Executed in 2013, Small Witness stems from Antony Gormley’s series of Small Blockworks, which he began that year. Standing one metre tall, it offers an elemental vision of the human form, composed of stacked cast iron blocks that resemble pixels. The Small Blockworks are models for Gormley’s larger-scale Blockworks, which strive to create an impression of the human body through the most economical of means; all possess an extended foot, which acts as the base of the sculpture. Throughout his practice, Gormley had sought to capture a sense of how we occupy both our bodies and the space around us. His figures do not perform roles or actions; they simply exist in the world, asking the viewer in turn to contemplate their own physical and psychological make-up. In the Blockworks, Gormley explains, ‘I try to let an improvised construction evoke an internal state. The success of any one work depends on there being an absolute tension between the sharp material clarity of the steel blocks, and a sense of vulnerability and exposure in the gestalt’ (A. Gormley, quoted at https://www.antonygormley.com/sculpture/item-view/id/221).
Executed in 2013, Small Witness stems from Antony Gormley’s series of Small Blockworks, which he began that year. Standing one metre tall, it offers an elemental vision of the human form, composed of stacked cast iron blocks that resemble pixels. The Small Blockworks are models for Gormley’s larger-scale Blockworks, which strive to create an impression of the human body through the most economical of means; all possess an extended foot, which acts as the base of the sculpture. Throughout his practice, Gormley had sought to capture a sense of how we occupy both our bodies and the space around us. His figures do not perform roles or actions; they simply exist in the world, asking the viewer in turn to contemplate their own physical and psychological make-up. In the Blockworks, Gormley explains, ‘I try to let an improvised construction evoke an internal state. The success of any one work depends on there being an absolute tension between the sharp material clarity of the steel blocks, and a sense of vulnerability and exposure in the gestalt’ (A. Gormley, quoted at https://www.antonygormley.com/sculpture/item-view/id/221).