National Gallery To Suspend Sculpture By Antony Gromley From Ceiling

A life-size sculpture by Antony Gormley has been dramatically suspended from the ceiling of the Ondaatje Wing Main Hall of the National Portrait Gallery today, Wednesday 7 September 2016.

The cast-iron sculpture, cast from the artist's body, is a part of Antony Gormley â€" Object, his first display at the National Portrait Gallery and the first time that the Main Hall has had a work of art suspended from its ceiling.

Object, 1999, weighing 650 kilogrammes, occupies a position of maximum visibility from the Ground Floor and in passing as the visitor ascends the escalator to the Gallery’s Second Floor.

This installation is accompanied on October 5 by the display of Fall, 1999, a selection of drawings shown in the Gallery's first floor Balcony Gallery within sight of the sculpture. Like the sculpture, these compelling works present a solitary figure occupying a void.

(from left): Fall, 1999; Fall VII, 1999; Fall VIII, 1999; Rise, 1999 by Antony Gormley © Antony Gormley

Paul Moorhouse, Curator of Antony Gormley - Object, says: ‘The central preoccupation of Antony Gormley's art is to explore the experience of occupying a human body, and to probe its mysterious relationship with the external world. By situating a figure standing in a void, this extraordinary installation presents that body-space relationship with great intensity and an affecting poignancy, and is a remarkable exploration of a shared human condition.’

Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, says: "I am delighted that the National Portrait Gallery will be displaying for the first time in Britain these remarkable works by Antony Gormley. We look forward to the Gallery's visitors experiencing from many vantage points his powerful engagement with the human figure."

The display at the National Portrait Gallery will coincide with a new exhibition by Antony Gormley at White Cube Bermondsey, from30 September to 6 November 2016.

In a career that now spans more than forty years, Gormley's wide-ranging oeuvre comprises sculpture and drawing, large-scale installations in architectural and outdoor settings, major public works such as the celebrated Angel of the North, and commissions that invite participation, notably One and Other, held in Trafalgar Square in 2009.

Object was previously exhibited in the Lutherkirche, Hannover, Germany as part of a group exhibition Lost Paradise Lost.

Antony Gormley â€" Object is curated by Paul Moorhouse, the National Portrait Gallery’s Head of Collections Displays (Victorian to Contemporary) and Senior Curator of 20th Century Portraits. His previous exhibitions at the Gallery include Giacometti: Pure Presence (2015), The Great War in Portraits (2014), The Queen: Art and Image (2012) Gerhard Richter Portraits (2009), and Pop Art Portraits (2007).

His displays at the Gallery include Andy Warhol: 10 Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century; Bridget Riley: from Life; Jim Dine Portraits: Derek Boshier: Imaginary Portraits; Patrick Heron: Studies for a Portrait of T. S. Eliot; John Gibbons: Portraits; Frank Auerbach: Four Portraits of Catherine Lampert; Anthony Caro: Portraits; Tony Bevan â€" Self Portraits, Light, Colour, Texture â€" Matthew Smith and Frank Dobson; Jack Smith â€" Abstract Portraits and Thomas Struth Family Portraits.

ANTONY GORMLEY OBJECTÂ

Object,1999: from 7 September 2016

Fall, 1999 and Object, 1999: from 5 October 2016

National Portrait Gallery, London www.npg.org.uk  Admission Free

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