Antony Gormleys Art Exhibition 2009
27th June - 28th August 2009
Torre Abbey
Torquay
Antony Gormley's Field for the British Isles will be the centrepiece of a year of contemporary art in the ancient setting of Torre Abbey in Torquay. Built in 1196 by the 'White Canons' the Abbey is Torquay's oldest building and its recent restoration will provide an unusual backdrop for Gormley's thought-provoking installation.
Perhaps most famous for his giant sculpture, Angel of the North, Gormley's Turner-prize-winning Field series is a startling and arresting sight: thousands of unglazed, fired, small clay figures, standing closely together, all staring towards the viewer. The Field for the British Isles' comprising 40,000 clay figures will fill much of the Abbey's huge Spanish Barn and will be open to the public free of charge from 27th June to 28th August 2009.
The Spanish Barn, venue for Field, is a mediaeval Tithe Barn originally built to store taxes paid to the Abbey in the form of grain, hay and other farm produce. The barn's unexpected name, and its place in the history books, was firmly established at the time of the Spanish Armada, when 397 prisoners were captured and held in the barn for a fortnight.
Field's features thousands of sculptures made from terracotta each measuring 80 - 260mm. Figures were made by a community of families in Humberside, under Gormley's direction. Other versions of Field have been made by families of brickmakers in Mexico, by children in the Amazon basin and by families in Guangzhou, China. Field is a desert seen from afar, an endless beach, a glimpse of how many of us there are. One is left with the sober thought that there are more people alive now that have ever lived in the past. The world's population doubles within the span of a single human lifetime. Gormley has said that one of the resonances of this work is that it is a reminder that there is only one humanity.
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