6 posts tagged “antony gormley”
Got an email from Flickr this morning saying my photostream has now be restricted because of certain images that some people may find offensive.
I know the pictures that have 'offended', they are the five I took of the naked man on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square as part of Antony Gormley's One & Other project.
The email reminded me of the community guidelines:
...play nice, upload things that you have created yourself, and
respect the fact that there are millions of people visiting
Flickr who may not see the world the same way you do.
Which is fair enough but there is a tiny part of me that thinks if you are offended by nudity you shouldn't really go searching for pictures tagged "naked man" and "nudity".
I have of course now restricted the images and written an apologetic and slightly begging email to Flickr to get them to un-restrict my entire photostream. Be a shame not to be able to show people the 2,969 other photo's that (hopefully) aren't offensive.
Oh and because they are now restricted on Flickr they won't appear on the previous posts I did about it on this blog. Apologies.
Not been much on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square to interest me or anything at all really since this Antony Gormley 'installation' or whatever you want to call it started but last Sunday there was a naked man (he's not the first and there was another just a few days later).
All very titillating and certainly entertaining for the tourists on the open top buses going by but is it art?
I'm a big fan of Antony Gormley's work but this, well maybe I'm not getting it because I just can't find anything to appreciate. If the object was to perplex then it has succeeded but I think there are far better reactions to illicit.
Oh and apparently it's not a crime to be naked in public according to this BBC story which confuses me as an earlier exhibitionist on the plinth was made to cover up.
If you are easily offended by nudity, don't watch this slide show.
I loved Gormley's Blind Light exhibition when there were about 30 of these statues, cast from the artist own body, dotted around on roof tops and ledges within a mile or two of the exhibition and all facing the Hayward Gallery. Really glad I found these which are at office building on the Euston Road.
Room in Athen's hotel had a frosted bathroom door* so I just couldn't resist...
*Note to hotel designers: Frosted glass in the bathroom door is quirky for about first five minutes you are in the room. The frosting only mildly distorts the person behind it and you don't really need to see someone scratching their arse or doing whatever it is that people generally like to do behind the privacy of the bathroom door. Secondly when you put the bathroom light on to go for a piss in the middle of the night you might as well have just switched all the room lights on, which is great for your room mate who was fast asleep.
My knowledge of art isn't great so I approach it from the point of view: does it provoke a response from me, do I like it or do I appreciate it?.
Antony Gormley's Blind Light at the Hayward Gallery is a yes, yes and yes. Why? Because it is imaginative, clever and I could appreciate the work, the thought and craft that had gone into it. And it certainly provoked a response.
Gormley takes the body as the central theme and has taken many casts of his own body. Indeed he must have spent a rather strange amount of time covered in cling film...
One room exhibits a piece called Allotment II which is a series of 300 concrete boxes each modeled on a the same group of measurements taken from 300
There were a lot of kids at the exhibition. I'm not sure what they take from it but I saw two boys running around Allotment II trying to find the concrete boxes that best matched their size, getting right up close to make sure all the holes matched.
Then there was Mother's Pride. Quite literally a wall of slices of Mother's Pride bread with the shape of a human, laying in an almost foetal position, 'bitten' out of the middle.
There are lots of pictures and details about his work at his excellent website
Several voxers have already posted about the work of artist Antony Gormley including AKA Vasquez so I apologise for arriving unfashionably late at the party.
These sculptures are decorating the roof tops and pavements around the South Bank as part of his Blind Light exhibition. Supposedly based on his own body, they have become such a feature of my journey to work that I have grown quite fond of them.
Some observers are obviously more moved than others by this art, choosing to respond in their own unique way. For example, it is not unusual to see parts of the sculpture, and you don't need to guess which parts, spray painted or words such as 'cock' written across the torso. Then there is the dressing up and the condom tied on with ribbon. None lasts more than a day leaving the sculptures a 'blank canvas' once again.
I wonder what Gormley's reaction would be?
The exhibition is only on for another couple of weeks and it will be a sad day when the sculptures are taken down. Perhaps I should start a campaign similar to the one initiated at Crosby Sands.
