"Body Buildings": Antony Gormley at Galleria Continua

A labyrinthine field of brick forms … solitary figures in simple yet striking poses … drawings into which meaning pools from the contrast of light, dark, and even deeper dark… The current exhibition at Galleria Continua Beijing is an exploration of human existence in relation to our constructed environment and how we perceive and rework our perceptions of each other.

The Artist

You may not know his name, but you almost certainly know his work. A celebrated figure in the field of contemporary sculpture, British artist Antony Gormley is known for his interest in the human form and for his sculptures and large-scale public installations that examine the relationship of the body to space and the environment. One of his most famous works, “Another Place,” is a permanent installation of 100 life-size iron figures (modeled from casts of Gormley’s body) spread over a stretch of coastline at Crosby Beach in Merseyside, England. The statues, installed in 1997, have been left to undergo the natural effects of time, tide and the elements, staring out in silent contemplation of the horizon.

The Work

In “Body Buildings,” Gormley “interrogates our species’ relationship to the built environment, an increasingly high-rise world we rarely escape.” Using clay and iron, common architectural materials, Gormley amplifies and crystalizes psychological and emotional experience from a human bodily perspective. 

Resting Place II presents 132 individual life-sized “bodies” composed of groups of large reddish fired clay bricks arrayed on the floor in the gallery’s large main room, with the public invited to navigate the pathways between them. The brick forms draw clear connections between buildings and the human body as a dwelling. Speaking about the exhibit, Gormley says, “It refers to two very different kinds of abandonment: the relaxed abandonment of the body on the beach, the place to which we return in childhood play and relaxation, and another, that of the migrant who has either forcibly or freely sought a new home.” From afar, the shapes assemble into the encompassing vision of a cityscape; up close, each form becomes human – hauntingly familiar expressions of relaxation, amusement, boredom, pain, or isolation. 

The large, stacked cast-iron blocks of Ally bring two bodies together into one silent, hulking mass, the individual blocks seemingly precariously balanced yet stable in their collective positioning. With Circuit, we are invited to reflect upon the circulatory nature of infrastructure and the impact of these shared networks on not just urban life but also human relationships. 

Shame and Short take the orthogonally knotted and snaking lines of Circuit and stand the constructions upright, though slightly curved — the focus here is on the balance and tension of bending figures.

Rule III and Buttress each take the iron interlacing of the previous works and condense it into an almost waffle-like expression of disintegrating human forms that lean against the gallery walls, highlighting the physical nature of existence in and interaction with our built surroundings. 

But Gormley’s output is not limited to sculpture. On display in this exhibition, there is also a collection of several drawings — inkcap and carbon and casein on paper — with striking emotional resonance achieved through the juxtaposition and manipulation of dark and light values. In this exhibition, I found it was Gormley’s drawings which spoke to me the most — they’re really something. The subjects are bold in their presentation, and the deep black color finds its place simultaneously as void and an intensely luminous dark.

Visiting the Exhibition

“Body Buildings” is Gormley’s third solo showing at Galleria Continua Beijing, after “Another Singularity” in 2009 and “Host” in 2016. This exhibition is a small but interesting peek at the artist’s work, and if you’re unfamiliar with Gormley, it serves as a nice introduction. It took me about half an hour to go through the exhibition, and if you are in the 798 Arts District area, it’s worth a quick stop. The exhibition is free and runs until Apr 14, 2025.

Galleria Continua 常青画廊
798 Dashanzi Art District, 2 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District
朝阳区酒仙桥路2号798大山子艺术区
Hours: Tue-Sun 11am-6pm (closed Mon)
Phone: 010 5978 9505

Images: Abigail Weathers, Oak Taylor-Smith, Chris Howells