Representation Of Body In Sculptures Of Rebeca Horne And Antony Gormley

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Our life is the greatest form of art, the form through which we express our inner-self and our inner-experiences. Then it seems natural for the artists to use the physical body as an expression and a medium to come in contact with the viewers and portray their thoughts. The body has been used widely by the artists in their art, not only in the form of a body sculpted of clay or wires but also the physical body used by the artists. Therefore the physical touch of the body used to showcase got the term “performance art”. The motive used by the artists to have a direct connection with the viewers based on what they want to convey. These artists play around with a body in their art to have a stand or power to awareness. For this soul reason body thus become the representation of the act of movements, instead of an object being displayed.

In the past era, there have emerged several artists who have made the use body or portrayed a body in a sculptural form to be recognised. Some artists have related the body to sculptural practices by using the motive of performance to connect more with the viewers and making a mark worldwide. Therefore with the aspect of the relating body with the sculpture, they can express their distinctive view and make their voice heard in the newly liberated social, political environment. Later viewing this picture artist made art even more personal by including body, themselves. Moreover the way the artists represent bodies even depend upon the space and surroundings as well. An artists presence translate to an artists physicality as they not only personally fulfill a role in the presentation of artwork, in fact, their blood and flesh become a key figure in the work as well.

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Hence several artists relate body with their work in a sculptural form and about whom I’ll be discussing today giving my point of view.

One of those several artists being Rebeca Horne, an artist who uses the body as a form of sculptural practices, infused with both tenderness and pain. Her work mainly looks back to alchemical exploration by female surrealists and it even looks forward to contemporary, poetic sculptural practice. She’s one of the artists who make art extend outwards to best communicate with others which is visibly clear to the viewers. After visualizing her sculptural practices it’s clear that she uses her body as a chief source to portray and express her sentiments attached with art, as to what she wants us, her viewers to see. This way of projecting the body mainly tells us that humans are more than they appear. She relates body with sculptural practices as it’s the body that helps understand different emotions and give us the ability to feel it and they off have a theocratic impact. Using this whole observation she cleverly displays the internal happenings on the outside of the body. Shown through one of her first performance “The Body-Extension” as shown in this picture tells the audience of her exploring the equilibrium between body and space. As if an artist does include a body in a sculptural practice would even have to include space that surrounds the body to maintain the balance. As shown over here, she’s standing on a wheat field representing unicorn which is a symbol for purity, chastity, instance. She said” the performance took place in the early morning still damp, intensely bright, the sun more challenging than any audience … utter consciousness electrically impassioned, nothing could stop her trance-like a journey in competition with every tree and cloud in sight and the blossoming wheat crossing her hips”. From her this statement it’s clear that through her work she keens in emphasising on graceful movements and the element of self-expression. Besides this most of her sculptures and installations are related to the subject of body and the presence of self-expressing. The viewers can easily connect themselves with her sculptural practices and experience the art. Putting this to view her artwork was a reflection of her life which through the use of the body has become more personal and self-expressing.

Antony Gormley’s work is again an example of the use of the body in sculptural practices. He’s one of the artists who widely involves the presence of a body with sculptural practices as the body plays a major role in building up a sculpture. His artwork is an interpreter of form and an examiner of the relationship between the human body and space. On viewing his presentation, installation and sculptures human-beings stand tandem with nature and the universe. He thus follows a pattern of work and in his work, he engages those experiences that profoundly informs his art-work. Its shown that Anthony Gormely reflects on his belief that the spiritual and physical selves are delicately intervened as he mostly prefers to use the body for his sculptural presentation. Taking into consideration one of his work” PASSAGE II” (2017) in which he had made use of the space and the body to make the audience experience what he felt. He designed a tunnel which was modelled on the standing human form which is not only an object placed to cover a space but also an experience concerning the interior of the body and offering a journey into the darkness and unknown. This, therefore, involves the presence of the body to experience it. His presentation was open to all to view and experience by making it a performance practised by the various body. As per to my observation from his work we get a sense of space that our body is surrounded by and the realisation to the interior body.

After looking at his other installation “ANOTHER PLACE” which consisted of 100 figures widely spread over 2 miles off coastline made me think of how the body has been given different language to portray in each of his installation or sculpture. It shows direct connectivity with the spiritual and physical body touch. Through his work, he too portrays a direct link with the viewers and let them submerge in his experiences making it theirs. As compared with Rebecca Horne even his sculptures talk about about the inner sufferings and both these artists make use of bodies in relation with space to connect with the audience through art. Thus both of their artwork has a sense of belonging and awareness.

While going through artists example there were one more artists who play around with body and space while sculptural practice, Anish Kapoor who works more with space but one of his artwork “The Cloud Gate ” included the presence of body relating his sculpture with it. Though this sculpture is not in the shape of the human body or any actual body performing its body plays a major role in bringing out the sculpture. His this sculpture is a “centrepiece at Millennium Park in the loop community area of Chicago” which has become a famous place for the tourists. As this sculpture due to its shape and what it reflects have attracted all the human bodies to experience it. As the mentioned earlier body has played a major role in this sculpture due to the concave chamber that wraps multiple reflections by standing in front of it. Through this, the viewer got to experience what he was trying to portray – a state of “in-betweenness ”. Body over here was not taken as a means to portray but as a means to feel and experience, as he invites the entry of the visitors to multiply their image if stood correctly in front of the sculpture. This reflection of the body experienced puts the viewers in a state of curiosity and amusement. From my point of view, his this sculpture was for the fascination of the viewers with it and the keen interest to try and experience the in-betweenness and a sense of being squeezed in middle, which would attract them to get their body and be familiar with it. It limits the viewers experiencing partial comprehension at any time. I felt its a source of interaction with the visitors who move around to create their vision waiting to fell the experience. After the observation as in relation with sculpture, the body becomes a part of the art when a viewer walks underneath the sculpture-into the navel and also when the body moves in different speed while passing through the cloud. Through its expression of opposites and refection allows for the experience of wholeness. Comparing his art with the above two, Rebecca Horn and Anthony Gormley all three have used the body in bringing out their sculpture. Besides in the case of Rebecca Horn art, she used her body as a medium to express whereas if we notice Antony Gormley’s and Ashish Kapoors work the body is portrayed as a means to feel and experience. But all these three artists had Ade use of the space and body for their sculptural practices whether the sculpture is the artist’s body, sculpture shaped in the form of a body or a form in which body is used as a means to experience.

Over here I had taken up the artists who work with the body in relation with space for sculptural practices, as when the body is taken into consideration space always complements it. Thus human body existing in space are often reminiscent of torture apparatuses. To sculptural art, the body is a living artwork offering experiences to each viewer. Instead of relying on a paintbrush and canvas to create a tangible art object, these artists they think in and through their body which becomes the work of art. The body has been the main subject of countless artwork, a tool of subject matter and art-making. The body is the intermediary between the immaterial and material world and also allows for the expression of one’s psychological and physical identity. After keen observation, I came to a point body becomes a sculpture in their own right as well as being part of a performance. Thus as an artists use body and explores personal, social or political issues it shows how artists engage in meaningful art-making practices that transcend beyond the element of art and principle of design.

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