Antony Gormley: Sculpture as an Inquiry into Being and Space An interview with the artist

By Elisa Carollo

This is a big year for internationally acclaimed artist Antony Gormley, who is marking his museum solo debut in South Korea with a sprawling exhibition at the countryside-immersed Museum SAN, alongside his first major U.S. museum survey at the Nasher Sculpture Center. The survey spans the breadth of Gormley’s career, from his experimental work of the early 1980s to his most recent work. To mark the occasion, his two main representing galleries—Thaddaeus Ropac and White Cube—are staging in Seoul “Inextricable,” a two-part exhibition that brings together some of his most iconic works with new pieces, including sculptures that extend beyond the gallery walls to occupy White Cube’s outdoor space in the heart of the hyped Gangnam district.

At this pivotal moment of institutional recognition, as Gormley reflects on his oeuvre, we spoke with him about how his inquiry into sculpture as a tool for exploring the relationship between the human body and space has evolved over the years.

“Inextricable,” the title of Gormley’s two-part show in Seoul, illuminates the core of his practice, which has long centered on exploring and exposing the systems of relation between the human body and its surroundings—and, more specifically, with constructed space, whether architectural, political or cultural—and how these frameworks shape human behavior and the very form of our existence.