In České Budějovice, Antony Gormley is exhibiting

České Budějovice – The Presence exhibition featuring British sculptor Antony Gormley started today at the House of Art in České Budějovice. His fundamental themes are the inner space of the body and the relationship between the human body and space. Gormley is a recipient of the Turner Prize and in 2014, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. The exhibition will run until April 28. Michal Škoda, the curator, told ČTK today.

For Gormley, the space where he exhibits is important. He visited the South Bohemian Gallery last year and prepared a tailored exhibition. "The sculpture is a still point in a changing world, and through confronting it, you can deeply experience your existence. That is the only reason I make sculpture," said Gormley.

The exhibition consists of two works. One, called Coordinates, is made of steel rods that form long lines. Two of them extend horizontally through the gallery, one at eye level and the other above head height. They intersect at a 90-degree angle, thus creating an imaginary lateral cross that connects different spaces. The work Edge is a body made of solid cast iron weighing 630 kilograms, horizontally affixed to the wall at the height of a sleeping person. "By this atypical placement, the sculptor turns the orientation 90 degrees and suggests how the stability of the world and thus our orientation are relative concepts," the curator stated.

Gormley is interested in the human relationship to nature and the cosmos. He often treats the body as a dwelling. According to the curator, two positions are typical for his work: the space of the body and the person in space. He usually visits the exhibition venues first, and based on how they affect him, he prepares works tailored to them.

"He constantly seeks the boundaries and possibilities of exploring our existence on earth, the relationship of the body and human to space. He enters into an imaginary dialogue not only with the space but also with the visitor," Škoda said. As Gormley states, spaces are more important to him than the sculptures themselves. It is therefore important to him how a given space affects a person, how a person feels within it.

"It is also a way of his communication, to work with space so that we become aware of ourselves, ourselves in space, what the space tells us. It never answers, but always poses questions to the viewer and draws them into its field for a certain confrontation and dialogue," said the curator.

Antony Gormley was born in 1950 in London. He studied archaeology, anthropology, and the history of art at Cambridge Trinity College, then spent several years in India and Sri Lanka, where he became acquainted with Buddhism. He then completed his sculpture studies at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. He has had many exhibitions. In 1994, he received the Turner Prize, in 1997 the Order of the British Empire, and since 2003, he has been a member of the Royal Academy.