Project #1:1 Response: Anthony Gromley's "Field"

Weekly Response Papers

Students will engage in weekly response papers to a question posed by the instructor each Monday. 

The subjects will be from a variety of topics regarding our work together: museums, collections, installations, the role of the institution, community engagement, etc. 

The goal of each written response is to sharpen your observational and critical thinking skills while developing and incorporating what is learned in our class together.

Student response's should be focused, thoughtful and speak thoroughly about each topic/question posed.

There are 14 weeks in the semester.  

Each week, excluding the final week, I will give you the opportunity to respond to one article, subject, etc. 

You are to complete 10 responses by the conclusion of the semester.  

And by all means, you may respond to three others for extra credit! 

I will give you the subject each Monday. 

Your response to that subject will be due the following Monday.

* Most papers, etc. I have scheduled for submission on Mondays so that you have the full weekend to put the best of your efforts into your responses. 

Your first response is due next Monday at the beginning of class.

Project #1: WK 1

Antony Gromley's Field

Critical Discussion on Anthony Gromley's "Field"  1989 - 2003

Give details of the installation 
Overall evaluation worth 10%:

• Artist / Nationality / Birth-Death dates - i.e. UK, b.1950..if not dead, yeah! if so, denote by UK 1950 - 2017
• Title > always in italics
• Date of work
• Material 
• Overall dimensions (HxWxD)> in inches and (metric)
• Location of Collection dates if available

In your response include one to two paragraphs of each of the following:

• Introduce the installation; who made it, its materials; its scale; its location 10%
• Why use clay as the material? And it has been fired only once (bisqued) and not glazed. Why would you think Gromley selected such a process? ? 10%
• What is Gromley saying by occupying the entire gallery space with Field? 10%

• What do you think Gromley is saying about the makers, their anonymity, the museum location, and the gallery contents? 20%
• What do you think Gromley is suggesting by the "occupied" and the "unoccupied" areas of the museum. Is he only thinking about gallery visitors? 10%
• Find one outside published critique of this particular work. Read it. Think about it.  Incorporate your ideas into your written response.  I.E. According to... 20%

Essay particulars:
500 words - about two pages, double spaced, 12 pt. font (not larger), hardcopy
Include an overall installation photographic shot and one detail jpg
Send by Word.doc (ONLY) to jpepper@cazenovia.edu by the beginning of class. 

Found outside Research on Field
Include essay's title and author
Include URL citation


Evaluation:
Accuracy and clarity of presenting the materials > free of grammatical error and quality of writing mechanics 10%

Inclusion, accuracy, and evaluation of your outside material found on the object (see above %'s)

Lateness in submission will earn a negative of 2% points per day of overall essay grade.
Inclusion and evaluation of your response to the talking points (see above %'s)

BEGIN NOW to organize your binder for final submission of all class work!

1. You will need a binder that you can easily add hardcopy pages to / research
2. Tabs denoting section areas
3. Projects #1 through #10 (see Methods of Evaluation) clearly denoted and organized. Remember, Project #1 has a minimum of ten entries!
4. Add your research notes found on the internet
5. Images you have found interesting along the way
6. URL of museum and collections you have found Off-the-Beaten Track
7. Hardcopy picked up on our site visits 
8. A bibliographical source page!
9. Other
10. You will hand in your binder at midterm, WED MAR 13 and on the final day of class for grading, WED MAY 08

STUDENT WRITINGS IN RESPONSE TO ANTONY GORMLEY'S FIELD ~

1.1 A Critical Response to Antony Gormley’s Field


              Antony Gormley meditated on questions of space often overlooked by the concentric rings of both artist and audience in his groundbreaking Field series, which was a body of five sculptural installations from 1989 to 2003. Born in 1950 in London, Gormley was deeply influenced by his peers who worked with organic forms (Godfrey 8). In 1989, Field for the Art Gallery of New South Wales was born and was the smallest of the “fields” at 23 x 1140 x 1050 cm or 9 x 449 x 413 in (Godfrey 3-4). After the rigidly parallel New South Wales, every other Field is described as “variable”, like Amazonian Field in 1992 which had 24,000 figures each ranging from 4-40 cm in height or 2-16 in; 1993’s Field for the British Isles consisted of 40,000 figures; also created in 1993, European Field had 40,000 elements, each 8-26 cm high or 3-10 in; and finally 2003’s Asian Field was 210,000 figures (Godfrey 3-4; Gormley). 
              Field was born and formed of the earth: every installation is composed solely of terra cotta clay, fired once and unglazed (Godfrey 21). I think Gormley selected this for both practical and aesthetic purposes: to lend the haunting figures some stability for transport and installation but to maintain his now iconic rough-hewn texture and blazing natural colors. There are a thousand subtle variations between each figure which glazing surely would have dulled, but lends depth and texture to the installations.  subtle variations between each figure which glazing surely would have dulled, but lends depth and texture to the installations. 
                  In “Public Space and the Body,” Darian Leader places the audience of Field “at the epicenter in a field of gazes” when Field occupies the entirety of the gallery space (Leader). The viewer becomes the viewed -- excluded but allowed “visual access” (Gormley). Considering the various meanings of “field”, the viewer has been fielded or directed around the space by the presence of Field, which brings in an organic sense of untamed nature to an organized gallery or human-centric space. Not only must the viewer consider the utilization of space but they must also remember the flexibility of “field”.                 The very presence of Field acts also as a commentary on the gallery and content of which it resides. In the case of European Field, it was displayed in the Malmö Konsthall -- a modern gallery where the pristine white walls are juxtaposed against the dense mass of Field to create an artistic tension (Godfrey 4). In fig. 2, we see European Field in that gallery space with painted, controlled landscapes hanging on the walls in direct contrast to the sprawling uncontrollable wil-derness of figures.  of figures. 
                Gormley did not work alone to create the wide-eyed figures that compose his Fields. However, his collaborators are just as anonymous to the world as his unnamed beings are: silent and hardly distinguishable from one another. One case that is particularly disturbing to consider: when Gormley utilized the skills of an entire, anonymous Mexican family -- from youths to el-ders -- to singlehandedly create the 40,000 figures necessary for installation (Godfrey 5). To me, that utilization appears callous considering the legacy of colonialism and racism.  -- to singlehandedly create the 40,000 figures necessary for installation (Godfrey 5). To me, that utilization appears callous considering the legacy of colonialism and racism. 
                 To quote Renata Salecl’s commentary on Field, viewing Field prompts “anxiety, uneasi-ness, some kind of a question...posed to me as an observer” (Leader). When Gormley ponders the occupied and unoccupied in his artist’s statement, I would argue he considers both the living and the dead. Art transcends many things, and I believe contemplation of Field raises the specters of the earth and those who have gone to it before us. When Gormley worked with the anony-mous Mexican family, certainly the ancient Mesoamerican myths where the first ancestors were molded from wet clay crossed their minds and imbued the installation with an ancient sense of spirituality. Gallery visitors are certainly a concern for Field but this playful treatment of space does not prioritize their comfort., some kind of a question...posed to me as an observer” (Leader). When Gormley ponders the occupied and unoccupied in his artist’s statement, I would argue he considers both the living and the dead. Art transcends many things, and I believe contemplation of Field raises the of the earth and those who have gone to it before us.              When Gormley worked with the Mexican family, certainly the ancient Mesoamerican myths where the first ancestors were molded from wet clay crossed their minds and imbued the installation with an ancient sense of spirituality. Gallery visitors are certainly a concern for Field but this playful treatment of space does not prioritize their comfort.
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Antony Gormley / British / 1950 - Present 
Field 
1989-2003 
Unfired Terracotta Clay 
12 X 3 X 2 cm on average per figure 






Art is more than just an image on a canvas, or a sculpture elaborately placed in a gallery, it is also a vessel which captures an artist’s vision and physical energy. This idea of capturing humanity and its potential energy is probably best showcased through the famous installation of Field, designed by artist Antony Gormley. Antony is a British sculptor who was born in August 1950 and still continues to create works of art today. His multi piece sculpture Field is constructed of multiple humanistic figures constructed out of clay. These forms were created by anonymous artists Gormley enlisted to help carry out his vision. The date of this work is from 1989 through 2003, and its overall dimensions range from 8 x 3 or 12 x 4 cm per figure. Each clay figure is unique, and no figure is exactly identical to another. The collection in total has over 200,000 figures but depending on the space Antony Gormley is given for his exhibit, all or only a few will be displayed at a given time. 

Typically, when displayed these figures take up an entire floor space of a given room. These clay figures range in 125 different shades of clay. This is largely because these clay figures have not been bisque or glazed. What this means is that these figures have only been air dried and not fired as well as glazed over with pigment. This leaves the natural pigmentation of the clay to show through. To understand why Antony Gormley has chosen to do this, we must first understand why he chose to work with clay in the first place. I believe that because Field relates to the sheer raw power humanity can have, he wanted to work with one of the rawest and most earth-based material which clay would be. Just like how there is no one soil type to work with, there is no one skin tone for humanity. If he were to bisque the figures, he would have drawn all the natural pigment out of the material. It’s true he could have glazed them to feature natural human skin tones, but the polished effect glaze can give would not have given the raw factor I think he was going for. He wants the viewer to not look as these figures as certain people from certain nationalities, he just wants you to view them as one big group which represents the essence of humanity. 

When these figures are displayed, they are often are displayed across a floor of a very public and high traffic space. When you first look at the placement of these figures you look at them as an obstacle between yourself and a certain painting or well-known attraction. I believe that Antony Gormley placed these figures in such a way, to remind us that we are not just in a me centric world. The world we live in is teeming with people we don’t even know, and yet without realizing it we each play our part to make the world we live in the way it is. When he occupies space like this, I feel he is not only challenging the path of the viewers, but also turning the entire space into a deeper conversation. We are left wondering why the figures are placed the way they are, why are they specifically in this pathway, and are they meant to cut us off from what is on the other side of them? This makes the viewer more aware of the space around them and how they choose to move around space. As the viewer looks closely at the figures, the likeness to human features makes us wonder who are these figures and who do they represent? 

Though Antony Gormley was the head visionary of this passion project, he incorporated the help of local people from five different locations around the world. None of these artists are named or credited alongside Antony Gormley, which adds to the primal nature of this piece. Throughout art history, there are many primitive pieces of art which have been left behind with no artist recognition or explanation as to what inspired them to create the piece. We often as a society look as those works as art work of the ancestors, and the one thing we have left of them is the evidence of their energy pressed, drawn, or carved into a form. According to Michael Spens an author for Studio International, “Here, for the first time, 'Field 'is shown in the midst of these other creations in what may be claimed as the greatest collection in existence of artifacts from the various cultures of the world.” In his article Spens argues that the artist is nodding to the primitive study and importance of the human form throughout many vast cultures throughout history. The material clay connects the viewer to the element earth; the form connects us to each other; and the mystery of the unknown artists and occupied versus unoccupied spaces connects us to the mysteries surrounding ourselves and our history. 

Field is a humanitarian piece which questions viewers on how they themselves relate to the space around them, and how they view humanity. Is humanity an obstacle to the individual needs and wants? Is humanity an earth-based element like the terracotta forms which make up the piece? Each viewer will relate or question this piece in their own way due to their person backgrounds and beliefs. His instillations very specifically challenge the viewer alone to define what their relation to humanity and space is. To quote Antony Gormley himself at the opening of Field for the British Isles, “Here are the spirits of the ancestors and the spirits of the unborn. You are the conscious layer in this stratification of mind that we call human being - what are you going to do about it?” 


Works Cited 
Spens, Michael. “Antony Gormley: Field for the British Isles.” Studio International - Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, 3 July 2013, www.studiointernational.com/index.php/antony-gormley-field-for-the-british-isles. 


Photograph of Field location http://www.antonygormley.com/sculpture/item-view/id/245
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Antony Gormley Response

Antony Gormley, UK, b.1950
Field
1989-2003
Terracotta clay
Dimensions vary
Guangzhou, China 2003

            British sculptor, Antony Gormley, created a massive series of clay figures that starts several different artistic conversations. The series Fieldbegun in 1989 and was finished in 2003. The overall series consisted of around 210,000 “body-surrogates”, referring to the clay sculptures. The overall dimensions vary as every singular sculpture is different and due to the installation being exhibited in different locations. Gormley vaguely discusses the size of his piece but states, “The dimensions of the viewing area are equivalent to no less than one sixth of the total floor area of the piece”. I focused on his installation Field for the British Isles (1993) for my research. This specific installation consisted of around 40,000 clay bodies (Habicht, Clemens, and Shovov). The article I used for my research mention Field for the British Isles being exhibited in 2012 at Barrington Court, UK (Habicht, Clemens, and Shovova).

            Clay is personally one of my favorite mediums to work with, so I enjoy researching this piece of art. I believe that Gormley chose bisque fire clay to be a raw and real as possible. Clay is a material from the Earth so many artists use it to have a relation to the world. 

            When Gormley chooses to have Fieldtake up the entire gallery, I believe that it is to disrupt the normal environment. Viewers are forced to be stared upon by thousands of small sculptures. This gives the viewer a sense of responsibility, like something they did is why they are now being stared at. Having the sculptures in occupied and unoccupied spaces makes the piece more effective at throwing off the regular gallery environment. Having so many sculptures in different areas also suggests the idea of overpopulation, especially with an exhibition in China.

            However, Joan and Wei Ting posted a critique on the field that looks at the piece differently than I do. They believe that the small figurines represent “empty souls” and “all work no play” (Ting). I suppose I just don’t see that type of emotion. I do see an issue behind the piece, but not emptiness when the room is so full.

            In Antony Gormley’s website post, he mentions workers that helped him create Field. It is very disappointing that he left them anonymous, yet still has his name out there. I don’t really understand why he didn’t give enough credit to the other creators. 

  

http://www.antonygormley.com/show/item-view/id/2268#p15   https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-17859021

Works Cited

            Antony Gormley, www.antonygormley.com/sculpture/item-view/id/245.
            Habicht, Clemens, and Shovova. “A Massive Field of 200,000 Clay Figures.” My Modern Met, 17 June 2016, mymodernmet.com/antony-gormley-field/.
            Ting, Joan and Ting, Wei. “Art Criticism!” Joan & Wei Ting's Art Blog!, 15 Aug. 2015, joanxrae.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/art-criticism/.
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Antony Gormley, UK, b. 1950, Field, 1989-2003, Red clay, 3-10 inches

Antony Gormley’s Field 

Antony Gormley’s Field was shown in galleries across the world from 1989-2003. Comprised of red clay placed on the floor, Field forced gallery goers to view the space in a different way. The size of the piece varied depending upon the gallery it was situated in, but it was made up of 210,000 red clay pieces, which were approximately 3-10 inches in height. All pieces were made by unnamed immigrants. 

            Field is composed of over 200,000 red clay figures, placed on the floor of a gallery. All of the figures were made by unnamed immigrants, and convey a very clear message to the public. Gormley usesField to make a statement about immigrant labor and shows how prevalent it is in modern society, even though we may not always be aware of it. By placing the figures on the floor of a once fully functional, traditional gallery space, he forces viewers to be aware of this problem. Not only are the clay figures art, but they disrupt the space of the gallery, forcing viewers to reevaluate what they once knew as the space. Gormley’s usage of space was intentional to the overall message of his piece. 

The massive number of figures produced also further express Gormley’s message. There are an uncountable number of immigrants working in fields, that we are simply not aware of when we buy produce at the grocery store. Gormley. The material of the figures was also intentional. Using red clay, only bisqued, was a statement about the nationality of all of the unnamed field workers. While Gormley does not state why he left the workers unnamed, there are several reasons for doing so. First and foremost, safety. If any of the immigrants were undocumented and he named them, they could be at risk for being deported. Another reason is it truly shows how many immigrants there are working within agriculture, and makes a statement that we as a society do not care about these immigrants or their wellbeing. 

            According to Jonathan Jones, an author for The Guardian, Gormley’s controversial, message within his work, is not always a hit with others. According to his article, other artists and critics sometimes view Gormley’s work as more of a social message opposed to art since almost all of the work Gormley does has a message, such as Field. 

            Gormley’s Fieldproposes a clear message to viewers. It simply makes a statement about immigrant workers in today’s society but disrupting a space with thousands of small clay figures. While some agree with Gormley’s work, and others may not, his work displays a very high level of social responsibility, and is meaningful to those it brings attention to. 

Works Cited 

Jones, Jonathan. “Antony Gormley: a Model of Hype?” The Guardian, Guardian News and

Media, 27 Nov. 2012,

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/nov/27/antony-gormley-model-of-hype.

Gormley, Antony. “Field .” Antony Gormley, 2003,

www.antonygormley.com/sculpture/item-view/id/245.

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Antony Gormley / British / 1950 - Present 

Field

1989-2003

Unfired Terracotta Clay

12 X 3 X 2 cm on average per figure

Art is more than just an image on a canvas, or a sculpture elaborately placed in a gallery, it is also a vessel which captures an artist’s vision and physical energy. This idea of capturing humanity and its potential energy is probably best showcased through the famous installation of Field, designed by artist Antony Gormley. Antony is a British sculptor who was born in August 1950 and still continues to create works of art today. His multi piece sculpture Fieldis constructed of multiple humanistic figures constructed out of clay.  These forms were created by anonymous artists Gormley enlisted to help carry out his vision. The date of this work is from 1989 through 2003, and its overall dimensions range from 8 x 3 or 12 x 4 cm per figure. Each clay figure is unique, and no figure is exactly identical to another. The collection in total has over 200,000 figures but depending on the space Antony Gormley is given for his exhibit, all or only a few will be displayed at a given time. 

            Typically, when displayed these figures take up an entire floor space of a given room. These clay figures range in 125 different shades of clay. This is largely because these clay figures have not been bisque or glazed. What this means is that these figures have only been air dried and not fired as well as glazed over with pigment. This leaves the natural pigmentation of the clay to show through. To understand why Antony Gormley has chosen to do this, we must first understand why he chose to work with clay in the first place. I believe that because Field relates to the sheer raw power humanity can have, he wanted to work with one of the rawest and most earth-based material which clay would be. Just like how there is no one soil type to work with, there is no one skin tone for humanity. If he were to bisque the figures, he would have drawn all the natural pigment out of the material. It’s true he could have glazed them to feature natural human skin tones, but the polished effect glaze can give would not have given the raw factor I think he was going for. He wants the viewer to not look as these figures as certain people from certain nationalities, he just wants you to view them as one big group which represents the essence of humanity. 

            When these figures are displayed, they are often are displayed across a floor of a very public and high traffic space. When you first look at the placement of these figures you look at them as an obstacle between yourself and a certain painting or well-known attraction. I believe that Antony Gormley placed these figures in such a way, to remind us that we are not just in a me centric world. The world we live in is teeming with people we don’t even know, and yet without realizing it we each play our part to make the world we live in the way it is. When he occupies space like this, I feel he is not only challenging the path of the viewers, but also turning the entire space into a deeper conversation. We are left wondering why the figures are placed the way they are, why are they specifically in this pathway, and are they meant to cut us off from what is on the other side of them? This makes the viewer more aware of the space around them and how they choose to move around space. As the viewer looks closely at the figures, the likeness to human features makes us wonder who are these figures and who do they represent?

            Though Antony Gormley was the head visionary of this passion project, he incorporated the help of local people from five different locations around the world. None of these artists are named or credited alongside Antony Gormley, which adds to the primal nature of this piece. Throughout art history, there are many primitive pieces of art which have been left behind with no artist recognition or explanation as to what inspired them to create the piece. We often as a society look as those works as art work of the ancestors, and the one thing we have left of them is the evidence of their energy pressed, drawn, or carved into a form. According to Michael Spens an author for Studio International, “Here, for the first time, 'Field 'is shown in the midst of these other creations in what may be claimed as the greatest collection in existence of artifacts from the various cultures of the world.” In his article Spens argues that the artist is nodding to the primitive study and importance of the human form throughout many vast cultures throughout history. The material clay connects the viewer to the element earth; the form connects us to each other; and the mystery of the unknown artists and occupied versus unoccupied spaces connects us to the mysteries surrounding ourselves and our history.

Field is a humanitarian piece which questions viewers on how they themselves relate to the space around them, and how they view humanity. Is humanity an obstacle to the individual needs and wants? Is humanity an earth-based element like the terracotta forms which make up the piece? Each viewer will relate or question this piece in their own way due to their person backgrounds and beliefs. His instillations very specifically challenge the viewer alone to define what their relation to humanity and space is.  To quote Antony Gormley himself at the opening of Fieldfor the British Isles, “Here are the spirits of the ancestors and the spirits of the unborn. You are the conscious layer in this stratification of mind that we call human being - what are you going to do about it?” 

Work Cited 

Spens, Michael. “Antony Gormley: Field for the British Isles.” Studio International - Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, 3 July 2013, www.studiointernational.com/index.php/antony-gormley-field-for-the-british-isles.

Photograph of Field location

http://www.antonygormley.com/sculpture/item-view/id/245

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