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Antony Gormley's Mayfair metamorphosis Antony Gormley's Mayfair metamorphosis
(7 days later)
On drawings and photographs, it looks almost funny. At the end of the stripped classical facade of the Beaumont Hotel in Mayfair – an interwar building originally designed as a garage – sits a cubic, humanoid figure occupying most of one wing of the structure. There has been some attempt to integrate it with the stone facade but the gap is still obvious. The figure appears to be squatting, folding its arms and staring, blank-faced, like a muted, reduced version of an ancient Assyrian sculpture, hieratic, pompous and faintly silly. It's even sillier when you realise that this is not merely a sculpture but actually a hotel room – and not by any sculptor, but the sculptor who has presided over the past 20 years of public art in Britain: Antony Gormley.On drawings and photographs, it looks almost funny. At the end of the stripped classical facade of the Beaumont Hotel in Mayfair – an interwar building originally designed as a garage – sits a cubic, humanoid figure occupying most of one wing of the structure. There has been some attempt to integrate it with the stone facade but the gap is still obvious. The figure appears to be squatting, folding its arms and staring, blank-faced, like a muted, reduced version of an ancient Assyrian sculpture, hieratic, pompous and faintly silly. It's even sillier when you realise that this is not merely a sculpture but actually a hotel room – and not by any sculptor, but the sculptor who has presided over the past 20 years of public art in Britain: Antony Gormley.
Such a radical shift from the nominally public, all those enigmatic figures lurking in "regenerated" public spaces, to the spectacularly private – a luxury Mayfair hotel room as sculpture – may, if nothing else, be indicative of the directions certain kinds of art are going to have to take now that public funding has been switched off. You can stay, for the expected exorbitant fee, inside the Beaumont Hotel sculpture; the bedroom is in the head. The public may get to see inside on open days, but otherwise this is strictly for those curious enough to want to stay for the night inside Antony Gormley. It's quite the metamorphosis for an artist who has been so prominent in actual public space.Such a radical shift from the nominally public, all those enigmatic figures lurking in "regenerated" public spaces, to the spectacularly private – a luxury Mayfair hotel room as sculpture – may, if nothing else, be indicative of the directions certain kinds of art are going to have to take now that public funding has been switched off. You can stay, for the expected exorbitant fee, inside the Beaumont Hotel sculpture; the bedroom is in the head. The public may get to see inside on open days, but otherwise this is strictly for those curious enough to want to stay for the night inside Antony Gormley. It's quite the metamorphosis for an artist who has been so prominent in actual public space.
The first of Gormley's major public sculptures – Iron: Man – was erected in 1993, but so prescient of the New Labour era that you could easily expect it to have been put there 10 years later. It is a metal figure modelled, as is usual for Gormley, on the artist's own body, standing in front of the Roman temple of Birmingham town hall.The first of Gormley's major public sculptures – Iron: Man – was erected in 1993, but so prescient of the New Labour era that you could easily expect it to have been put there 10 years later. It is a metal figure modelled, as is usual for Gormley, on the artist's own body, standing in front of the Roman temple of Birmingham town hall.
Like much of the public art of the 90s and 00s it is conspicuous for being at once notably "high" – classical and austere in proportion, serene of countenance, lacking in obvious rhetoric – and "low" in the abundance of local reference, ranging from a deliberate evocation of Brum's historic metal trades to the Black Sabbath reference of its title; the metal man stands in the home also of heavy metal. Accordingly, it was uniquely capable of satisfying most possible tastes and prejudices, quite a feat in the box-ticking world of public art.Like much of the public art of the 90s and 00s it is conspicuous for being at once notably "high" – classical and austere in proportion, serene of countenance, lacking in obvious rhetoric – and "low" in the abundance of local reference, ranging from a deliberate evocation of Brum's historic metal trades to the Black Sabbath reference of its title; the metal man stands in the home also of heavy metal. Accordingly, it was uniquely capable of satisfying most possible tastes and prejudices, quite a feat in the box-ticking world of public art.
Then, for 15 years or so, it seemed the slim, faceless, cast-iron body of Gormley was everywhere. With outspread wings, as The Angel of the North, he heralded regeneration on the approach road to Gateshead. At Crosby beach in Merseyside, 20 of him stand gazing at the sea, in the sea, half-buried by sand or gradually overtaken by barnacles; at the temporary Event Horizon in London, for a summer 31 Gormleys stared out from various prominent London locations. Then, for 15 years or so, it seemed the slim, faceless, cast-iron body of Gormley was everywhere. With outspread wings, as The Angel of the North, he heralded regeneration on the approach road to Gateshead. At Crosby beach in Merseyside, 100 of him stand gazing at the sea, in the sea, half-buried by sand or gradually overtaken by barnacles; at the temporary Event Horizon in London, for a summer 31 Gormleys stared out from various prominent London locations.
Even the moves away from the cast-iron figure still gave off a sense of unnerving ubiquity, as at Quantum Cloud, near the Millennium Dome (as was), where a flurry of steel shards can be seen, if you look closely enough, to delineate that same looming figure.Even the moves away from the cast-iron figure still gave off a sense of unnerving ubiquity, as at Quantum Cloud, near the Millennium Dome (as was), where a flurry of steel shards can be seen, if you look closely enough, to delineate that same looming figure.
Any corporation would envy Gormley's branding skills – and he was to be repaid by the most sincere form of flattery, when imitated at various lesser regeneration sites, where Gormleyesque figures would try to be as enigmatic as the man himself.Any corporation would envy Gormley's branding skills – and he was to be repaid by the most sincere form of flattery, when imitated at various lesser regeneration sites, where Gormleyesque figures would try to be as enigmatic as the man himself.
The money is not there any more for such projects – the regional development agencies that helped fund them were abolished, and the Arts Council suffered heavy cuts. So instead of standing in a Birmingham square, on a mundane Merseyside beach or on the way to Gateshead, Gormley's figures now become basically private entities, things that can only truly be explored by those who can afford it.The money is not there any more for such projects – the regional development agencies that helped fund them were abolished, and the Arts Council suffered heavy cuts. So instead of standing in a Birmingham square, on a mundane Merseyside beach or on the way to Gateshead, Gormley's figures now become basically private entities, things that can only truly be explored by those who can afford it.
Sir Antony Gormley had become the Sir Thomas Brock of the 21st century, his alternately sententious and populist works saying as much about the aspirations of New Labour's optimistic, vacuous culture as Brock's Venuses and Victorias said about the sickness and pomposity of empire.Sir Antony Gormley had become the Sir Thomas Brock of the 21st century, his alternately sententious and populist works saying as much about the aspirations of New Labour's optimistic, vacuous culture as Brock's Venuses and Victorias said about the sickness and pomposity of empire.
It's only appropriate he would adapt to the new climate, where what is left of the public is enthusiastically eviscerated in favour of an ever more confident plutocracy. For once, the figure is not visibly that of the artist himself but of a much more reduced, angular body: still recognisable as human, but only just.It's only appropriate he would adapt to the new climate, where what is left of the public is enthusiastically eviscerated in favour of an ever more confident plutocracy. For once, the figure is not visibly that of the artist himself but of a much more reduced, angular body: still recognisable as human, but only just.
• This article was amended on 17 June 2014 because an earlier version said there were 20 statues on Crosby beach. This has been corrected to say 100.