Displaying items by tag: antony gormley

Stéphane Aquin holds a distinguished profile in the Canadian art world and abroad, in part because he arrived to the role of curator from art criticism, but also because, in an era of revolving doors and fast-tracked career-making, Aquin has stayed with one institution—the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA)—for a long stretch of time, putting his head down and achieving increasingly strong exhibitions. Over the course of 16 years, he has accomplished major solo exhibitions with the likes of Pipilotti Rist, Tom Wesselman, and, most recently, Peter Doig, what many consider (including Aquin) his crowning achievement at the MMFA. In addition, he has curated interpretations of the Chapman brothers, Andy Warhol, and Alfred Hitchcock, and expanded the museum's collection by more than a thousand artworks, including works by David Altmejd, Kiki Smith, Antony Gormley, Dorion FitzGerald, and Michael Snow.

The Contemporary Art Evening auction at Phillips on February 12 features works by many art world heavyweights including Andy Warhol, Allen Jones, Julian Schnabel, and Antony Gormley, but the star that is likely to steal the show is undoubtedly Ai Weiwei's sculpture "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads." This group of 12 gold-plated sculptures, portraying the signs of the Chinese zodiac, is offered as Lot 8 with a pre-sale estimate of £2-£3m.

Created in 2010 the zodiac heads are inspired by those which once comprised a water clock-fountain at the Old Summer Palace, the complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing built between 1750 and 1764 by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty.

Graduates of Goldsmiths, University of London who have become household names in contemporary art, including Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Sarah Lucas, Yinka Shonibare and Michael Craig-Martin, are donating works to raise funds for a new art gallery at their old art school. Sam Taylor-Johnson, Julian Opie and Steve McQueen, whose "Twelve Years a Slave" won an Oscar last year, have also given pieces.

The works, including a spot painting and a swirl painting by Hirst, a bronze by Lucas, and one of Gormley’s cast iron standing men, are expected to raise most of the £2.8 million cost of the gallery at a Christie’s auction next month.

Artists Antony Gormley and Grayson Perry, Art Fund director Stephen Reuchen and Innocent drinks co-founder Richard Reed were all gathered at Waterloo station yesterday morning to celebrate the launch of Art Everywhere 2014. First launched in 2013, this edition is bigger and better, the project will last six weeks. Mounted all over the UK, displaying 30,000 artworks on billboards and poster sites to share the nation’s favourite art. As the UK’s largest outdoor exhibition, the project aims at engaging with the country’s population: curated by different art professionals and creatives, 25 artworks out of 70 were selected by the public trough a vote gathering 38,000 participants via Facebook. The most popular works were Hockney’s My Parents (1977), Dora Carrington’s Far mat Watendlath (1921), Laura Knight’s Ruby Loftus screwing a Breech-ring (1943) followed in 4th position Grayson Perry’s The Annunciation of the Virgin Deal (2012).  In London, Waterloo Station and Piccadilly Circus are the major spots where you will be able to admire these pieces.

British sculptor Antony Gormley has taken his exploration of the human body to a new level. The Turner Prize-winning artist has created a huge sculpture of a crouched figure that doubles as a luxury hotel suite. The work sits on the facade of London’s forthcoming Beaumont Hotel, which is slated to open later this year. 

Gormley was commissioned to create the sculpture by the Beaumont’s founders, restaurateurs Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, in 2008. The artist said, "I take the body as our primary habitat. ROOM contrasts a visible exterior of a body formed from large rectangular masses with an inner experience. The interior of ROOM is only 4 metres square but 10 metres high: close at body level, but lofty and open above. Shutters over the window provide total blackout and very subliminal levels of light allow me to sculpt darkness itself. My ambition for this work is that it should confront the monumental with the most personal, intimate experience."

Widely considered one of the greatest sculptors of all time, British artist Henry Moore played a pivotal role in translating modernism into three dimensions. A new exhibition at the artist’s former home in Hertfordshire, England, examines the influence that Moore’s soaring, organic sculptures had on contemporary art.

“Body & Void: Echoes of Moore in Contemporary Art” presents works by some of the world’s most celebrated contemporary arts, including Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread, Antony Gormley, and Anish Kapoor. Works by a number of post-war artists, such as Joseph Beuys and Bruce Nauman, are also included in the exhibition. Site specific works by leading British artists Richard Deacon and Robert Long have been commissioned as part of the show.

“Body & Void” presents sculptures that examine Moore’s central themes, including the exploration of internal and external space, mother and child, and figures in a landscape, alongside contemporary works that touch on the same topics. For example, Hirst’s “Mother and Child (Divided),” a bisected cow and calf floating in giant tanks of formaldehyde, appears between Moore’s rose marble sculpture “Mother and Child” and “Stringed Mother and Child,” a single plaster cast that features two forms connected by a series of cords. The three works explore the same mother and child relationship in vastly different ways.

“Body and Void” fills the galleries and gardens at Perry Green, where Moore lived and worked for 50 years. The estate is also home to the Henry Moore Foundation, which was established by the artist in 1977. Although Moore amassed considerable wealth during his lifetime, he chose to live frugally and put most of his fortune towards endowing the Foundation, which continues to support education and promotion of the arts.  

“Body & Void: Echoes of Moore in Contemporary Art” will remain on view at Perry Green through October 26.

David Hickey, one of America’s foremost art critics is known for his acerbic commentary, but his latest tirade against the world of modern art is downright scathing. Hickey, a professor, curator, and author, told the Observer that he will be walking away from contemporary art, a genre he says has been ruined by rich collectors who are more concerned with money and celebrity than quality.

Hickey claims that art editors and critics have lost their edge, spending more time catering to the wealthy people who hold the reigns on the contemporary art market than surveying the actual work (which he says is also lacking). Hickey is not alone in this claim. A number of contemporary art curators, museums, and galleries have deemed the work of such artists as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, and Antony Gormley bloated and empty – the result of too much fame and not enough criticism. While the notion of the artist as celebrity is not new, today’s market is saturated with it and gaining status has taken precedence over making revolutionary, ground-breaking art.

A former dealer, Hickey is attuned to considering art in monetary terms but his objections stem from his belief that contemporary art has become too broad, too elitist, and lacks discretion. Hickey’s retirement will remove an important critical voice from the equation. He plans to complete a book on the pagan roots of America, aptly titled Pagan America, as well as a book of essays titled Pirates and Framers.