"All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art." ~ Jorge Luis Borges

May 1, 2012 6:15 AM

200,000 Clay Figures: British sculptor Antony Gormley is well-known for his life-size sculptures that creatively mimic the human body, but the figurative clay mounds from his series titled Field, though not as accurate in depicting mankind's form, holds deeper value for the artist. Gormley says of this project, "I wanted to work with people and to make a work about our collective future and our responsibility for it. I wanted the art to look back at us, its makers (and later viewers), as if we were responsible - responsible for the world that it [FIELD] and we were in." [Previously] [Previously]
posted by Fizz (14 comments total)

I'm reminded of this.
posted by Fizz at 6:15 AM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

So that's what it feels like to be Hitler whilst giving a speech.
posted by symbioid at 6:29 AM on May 1, 2012

My first thought was "oh, crap, they have finally escaped and they are coming for me!" Then I realized that is was art and my failed attempts to create a ghastly parody of human life are still safely sealed away.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:37 AM on May 1, 2012

Or, y'know--- Green Day
posted by Static Vagabond at 6:42 AM on May 1, 2012

Ohhh, noooooo!
posted by HuronBob at 6:49 AM on May 1, 2012

If the makers of China's Terracotta Army could have seen Gormley's work - they'd have peed themselves!
posted by Jody Tresidder at 7:37 AM on May 1, 2012

I live a stone's throw away from Gormley's Another Place
posted by PeterMcDermott at 8:05 AM on May 1, 2012

My favorite Gormleys.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:08 AM on May 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's not immediately clear from the links - but it was a smaller version of Field (with 40,000 tiny terracotta figures rather than the current 200,000) that actually won Gormley the Turner Prize back in 1994.

So the concept comes before The Angel of the North - 1998 - which made him an "overnight" sensation.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 8:31 AM on May 1, 2012

The Trouble With Tribblecotta
posted by gwint at 9:04 AM on May 1, 2012

Is this where I would put the "RICK RICK RICK, WE ARE LEGION RICK!" Comment?
posted by blue_beetle at 10:19 AM on May 1, 2012

Is this like that prank where you leave 10,000 styrofoam cups filled with water all over somebody's dorm room?

Just kidding. I love the life-size sculptures you linked. Beautiful and cool.
posted by The ____ of Justice at 11:53 AM on May 1, 2012

Aw, I think they are cute. They kind of look like the Kodama in "Princess Mononoke".
posted by littlesq at 4:21 PM on May 1, 2012

Field is brilliant. The various life-size 'human' sculptures I'm less certain about; I like my humanity to include at least some representation of female dimorphic characteristics. I loved Gormley until I noticed that absence, and now I just see a bunch of dudes representing the species again.
posted by pickingupsticks at 2:17 PM on May 2, 2012