Crouching, Twisting, Leaning — The Human Forms of Antony Gormley On the artist's exhibitions in Seoul

By Yoonwon Chung, edited by Solhui Ha

Although the art week in early September may now feel like a distant memory, the simultaneous exhibitions of Antony Gormley held across Korea remain vividly remembered. It is quite rare for two galleries—Thaddaeus Ropac Seoul and White Cube Seoul—and one museum, Museum SAN, to present solo shows by the same artist around the same time. Together, they map out a rich terrain connecting public spaces—such as the city and the environment—with the intimate refuge of the human body. Through these exhibitions, we were offered an opportunity to experience the dynamic interplay of Gormley’s bodily sculptures as they engage with different spaces, dissolving the boundaries between form and field, between subject and environment.

British artist Antony Gormley has taken the body as the starting point of his sculptures, deeply exploring the "space" generated by sensation and perception. By abstracting the human body into lines and planes, his works redefine its scope and depth, as well as its relationship to the space in which it resides. In two exhibitions in Seoul, the artist views individuals in the city as "living sculptures," attempting to contemplate the tension and balance between existence and space. As the title "Inextricable" suggests, Gormley brings to life the artist's message that "the world now builds us" by prompting us to perceive how the human body and habitat are co-constructed.