BODY SPACE TIME, a new solo exhibition by the internationally renowned British artist Antony Gormley, was officially kicked off at Galleria Continua on April 23, 2022. The presentation in San Gimignano continues Gormley’s lifelong investigation of the body as place and the structuring of space. While based on the subjective experience of the artist, the works on display call on the bodies of the viewers and their movement through the gallery. 

Exhibition view of "Antony Gormley: BODY SPACE TIME" Copyright Line: © the Artist

Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA. Photo by: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio 

The exhibition juxtaposes mass and space through the idiom of the body, beginning with SPACE, a grounded cloud of interconnected stainless steel spaceframes, in dialogue with BODY, a milled solid iron cube weighing two tonnes. At the centre of the exhibition lies FRAME II, a body-space structure the size of a house, made of interconnected aluminium frames, intended to be viewed from the stalls and balcony of the old theatre now gallery space. In contrast, a bold and weighty mass of cast iron Blockworks will be held in the tight labyrinthine cellars of the 14th century townhouse. 

FRAME II, 2021, aluminium, square tube 5 mm, Copyright Line: © the Artist

Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA. Photo by: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio 

COMPOSE (BLOCK) , 2021, Cast iron and high strength steel 88 x 43.5 x 71.5 cm, 34,64 x 17,12 x 28,15 inCopyright Line: © the Artist  Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA. Photo by: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio  

SPACE, 2021, 2 mm square section stainless steel bar dimensions variable, Copyright Line: © the Artist 

Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA. Photo by: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio 

BODY, 2021, Cast iron, 59,6 x 59,6 x 59,6 cm 23.46 x 23.46 x 23.46 in, Copyright Line: © the Artist 

Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA. Photo by: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio 

For the first time, the artist will show works both in their raw and highly finished states, as well as works that have been cast as one form, and others made of blocks that will simply be placed next to or on top of each other. As such, throughout the show there is a play between loose and fixed, open and closed, mass and space. 

Antony Gormley on the works and materials: “The raw and the cooked; the formed and the found. Iron can be found in nodules, seams, ferrous-rich ore or in meteorites that have landed on the surface of this planet after a long journey through interstellar space. Iron is the core material of this planet. It is a material that expresses in its magnetism and gravity, qualities common to all bodies in space but in a way that is only possible with this level of mass. I wanted to celebrate all of the qualities of both construction and material identity that this extraordinarily versatile material offers. Some of these works have simply been dug from the sand and wire brushed, some have been allowed to rust, and others have been milled and ground to a high finish. Some are cast whole, others are cast in pieces. Some pieces are precariously placed one on top of the other in unstable relations to make a single work. The idea of demonstrating these various ways of assembling and making sculpture is to engage our bodies in proprioception and an objective evocation of how our bodies relate both to the planet and the geometry of our made habitat.” 

SUSPEND, 2020, Cast iron, 239.3 x 74x 71.5 cm 94.21 x 29.13 x 28.15 in, Copyright Line: © the Artist 

Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA. Photo by: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio 

It is reported that the exhibition remains on view till September 4, 2022. 

Courtesy of Galleria Continua and the artist.