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Lot Essay
Executed in 2013, and acquired by the present owner that year, Cluster III is an absorbing, life-size sculpture from Antony Gormley’s POLYHEDRA series. Formed from a folded steel sheet, it reimagines the body as a complex polygon, its frame articulated through a continuous series of interconnected angular planes. Gormley began his POLYHEDRA works in 2008, making a shift from ‘the de-materialised form of the DRIFT works, where only a hint of the body was apparent, to works with greater surface definition’ (A. Gormley, ‘Polyhedra Works 2008-2017’, www.antonygormley.com). His inspiration came from two sources: the natural hexagonal structures of beehives and basalt rock formations, and the Weaire-Phelan ‘bubble-matrix’. This three-dimensional geometric system, found in foams, reeds and the interior of bones, represents the most efficient way of bounding space, allowing for the generation of complex many-sided polygons. Transplanting this structure to human anatomy, explains Gormley, invites us to consider our own bodies in relation to alternative formal principles, connecting us to the rhythms of nature that lie beyond our field of vision.
Works from the POLYHEDRA series have been installed in settings across the world: from the Avon River in Christchurch, New Zealand—where the 2014 sculpture Stay is permanently located—to the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland and the Martello Tower in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The present work stands among the most upright examples in the series: others crouch on the floor, lean against walls, bow their heads or hang from the ceiling. Despite its seemingly alien surface, the work emits a distinctly human presence that connects with the viewer on both a physical and emotional level. ‘Looking at a particular sculpture such as Cluster’, writes Jean Paul Van Bendegem, ‘one must of course be aware of the specific elements—a human body represented standing upright, a thin steel sheet as a kind of skin and the cavit(y/ies) that (is/are) created—and at the same time these components serve as “keys”, “initiators”, “invitations” to explore a cultural mindscape through an experienced bodyscape’ (J. P. Van Bendegem, ‘The Blessing of Babel’, in Antony Gormley: according to a given mean, exh. cat. Xavier Hufkens Gallery, Brussels 2013, p. 9). As our eye travels across the surface, our gaze turns inwards, forcing us to confront our own position within the world.
Works from the POLYHEDRA series have been installed in settings across the world: from the Avon River in Christchurch, New Zealand—where the 2014 sculpture Stay is permanently located—to the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland and the Martello Tower in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The present work stands among the most upright examples in the series: others crouch on the floor, lean against walls, bow their heads or hang from the ceiling. Despite its seemingly alien surface, the work emits a distinctly human presence that connects with the viewer on both a physical and emotional level. ‘Looking at a particular sculpture such as Cluster’, writes Jean Paul Van Bendegem, ‘one must of course be aware of the specific elements—a human body represented standing upright, a thin steel sheet as a kind of skin and the cavit(y/ies) that (is/are) created—and at the same time these components serve as “keys”, “initiators”, “invitations” to explore a cultural mindscape through an experienced bodyscape’ (J. P. Van Bendegem, ‘The Blessing of Babel’, in Antony Gormley: according to a given mean, exh. cat. Xavier Hufkens Gallery, Brussels 2013, p. 9). As our eye travels across the surface, our gaze turns inwards, forcing us to confront our own position within the world.