安東尼·葛姆雷

Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2006

Brussels, Xavier Hufkens, Antony Gormley: You and Nothing, 2006

Michael Mack, Ed., Antony Gormley, Gӧttingen 2007, p. 534, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in very good condition.
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Hive I is one of Antony Gormley’s most ethereal, delicate works; a stunningly poetic mediation on the metaphysical possibilities of the human body. This work represents the primary unfolding of Gormley’s ideas on the subject, and is a truly magnificent sculpture from one of the artist’s most recent series. Reminiscent of the gossamer, filigree-like weavings of a vast spider’s web, Hive I combines Gormley’s long-running interest in the innate space occupied by the figure with the magnificently complex beauty to be found within nature’s organic forms. An extraordinary structure that appears to levitate off the earth, Hive I not only references the shape of an actual hive – a microcosm of the cycle of life and death – but further brings to mind the idea of a chrysalis: the virtual entombment of the body within a casing that becomes a cradle of life following the re-birth of the caterpillar as a butterfly. The apparent suspension of Hive I off the ground, released from earthly constraints, seems to reflect such a transformation, infusing the structure with a sense of latent possibility and an idea of the potential power of humanity as a whole. Eckhard Schneider refers to the ‘universal’ nature of Gormley’s work, noting that: "He engages critically with human issues, with people as individuals, as members of collectives… and he examines them in relation to space and nature." (Eckhard Schneider, In and Out, from Antony Gormley, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria 2009).

Describing the present work in great detail, the artist explained: "HIVE I is the earliest of the polyhedral space frame works of which there are now over twenty. It's an attempt to identify a human space in space as a zone of transformation. It is an emergent matrix of cells that surround a human-shaped void, where a body once pressed against the surface of a wall. A loose hexagonal net is stretched over the skin and extended into a crystalline structure that suggests a nest or honeycomb. I am aware that the hexagonal geometry of the cells in a bee hive is the only other consistently geometrical habitat apart from our own. The clustered shells on the outside of the body are an echo of the cellular structure internal to all bodies, whether animal or vegetable. The work pre-dates a whole series of suspended nesting polygonal matrices that also contain human-shaped voids and use a development of the bubble matrix packing, all called DRIFT; mostly these are at life size but some, like the one in Singapore (17 by 23 by 42m.), are much larger" (Antony Gormley, December 2012).

Gormley’s fascination with the body as an abstract space is one of the key aspects of his creative oeuvre, through which he constantly strives to develop new possibilities within sculpture; a medium in which the human body had seemingly reached the limits of artistic expression. By removing the physical actuality of the body, Gormley succeeds in transcending the limitations imposed by the constraints of defined corporeal boundaries, effectively highlighting the idea of the importance of the spirit – the essence of a person’s thoughts, dreams and hopes – over the earthly presence of the figure. The sculptor declared in a recent interview that: "The classical position of sculpture as an absolute object placed in space has been replaced by constructing a provisional energy field in space." (The artist interviewed by Pierre Tillet in: Exhibition Catalogue, Rotterdam, Kunsthal, Antony Gormley: Between You and Me, 2008, p.59). The concept of an ‘energy field in space’ reflects Gormley’s fascination with scientific developments in the esoteric worlds of molecular biology and quantum physics. Indeed, the complex structure of Hive I is remarkably reminiscent of the elaborate diagrams that seek to re-create the molecular composition of a substance. The intricate latticework of Hive I is correspondingly imbued with a sense of the extraordinary logic and beauty to be found within the components of the very structure of life itself, as well as being a profound meditation on the power and potential of the human spirit once released from earthly bounds.