Paul Hurst's blog

Antony Gormley's Another Place

I can still remember my first sight of Antony Gormley's Angel of the North. Love it or loathe it, it's is one of British modern arts most iconic sculptures. As a photographer, I loved it. Such a huge clearly defined symbol towering above its surroundings.

On the back of that, I'd been waiting with excitement to see Antony's new work, which thankfully is only 30 mins away from where I live, so it was off to Crosby to catch a glimpse of 100 life sized iron sculptures which are scattered across the beach. Some on nice solid sand... Some on not so solid sand.

It took far longer to find the beach as the brown signs seemed to point to nowhere, in fact, they are missing the last one so I kept driving past the narrow road to the car park but once I'd taken a guess, I did end up in the right place.

The statues do have a 'Gormleyesque' quality about them and they are based around 17 casts that he made of his own body. I must point out here that modesty is out of the window and everything is on display but each of the statues stand tall on the sands, facing the Irish ferries that make their way into the port at Liverpool.

Personally, I love artwork like this. I think that anything which leaves a striking impression, be it 100 sunbathing statues or one giant Angel has done its job. I know its not everyone's cup of tea and many people critisise this type of thing, but I think that Gormley's work really does make us feel like we are visiting 'another place'. A world where Ironclad aliens silenty watch the people on the beach. They move for no-one, not even the tide.

I took quite a few pictures while I was there so I will include a few here for the benefit of those who have no idea what I'm blogging on about.









































As a final word, I include a candid picture taken, not from a point of art, but for this beach visitor, from a point of practicality.