Author Description

Throughout His Career As A Sculptor, Antony Gormley Has Never Ceased To Draw. Regarded By The Artist As A Form Of Thinking, The Act Of Drawing Is For Him 'a Journey Into The Unnamed Parts Of Our Internal Landscape, Or Out Into The Unknown'. Parallel To Yet Independent From His Sculpture, Gormley's Drawings Are Highly Intuitive And Immediate Responses To The Condition Of Being In The World. Often Produced At Night During A Frenzy Of Activity, They Allow A Degree Of Escape And Spontaneity Not Possible Within The Slower Process Of Sculpture As A Medium. As Well As Revealing Private Thoughts, The Drawings Show An Extraordinary Level Of Experimentation And Curiosity. From The Early Use Of Black Pigment And Linseed Oil Through To The Later Exploration Of More Unorthodox Materials Such As Blood, Semen, Chicory And Earth, Gormley Shows Himself To Be Both Highly Conscious Of The Origins Of The Different Substances He Uses And Fascinated By The Way They Behave. In Her Accompanying Texts, Anna Moszynska Traces The Development Of The Work In The Context Of Gormley's Wide-ranging Ideas And His Personal History. Although A Number Of His Drawings Have Been Exhibited In The Past In A Wide Variety Of Locations Including New York, Tokyo, London, Paris And Sydney, This Is The Most Comprehensive Selection Published To Date. The Book, Which Includes Drawings Held In The Collection Of The British Museum, Shows The Full Range Of His Work In This Medium Over A Twenty-year Period, From 1981 To 2001.--book Jacket. Anna Moszynska. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [208]).