Floating body is made from old nails
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Antony Gormley 'floating'
body sculpture in the Cathedral Crypt. Photo: Chris Davey.
Hundreds of old nails taken from
the restoration of Canterbury Cathedral have been transformed into
a stunning new work by sculptor Antony Gormley.
The piece is in the form of a body
which is suspended as if floating in mid-air in the Cathedral Crypt
where the tomb of Thomas Beckett was originally sited.
Gormley, who created the Angel of
the North, was at the unveiling for the piece called ‘Transport’ on
Sunday afternoon but Cathedral officials have revealed it has not
cost them a penny.
Matthew Butler, chief executive of
the Canterbury Gift appeal which is raising money for the
restoration work, said: "There were hundreds of old iron nails
being taken out from the lead on the roof which were just going to
be thrown away.
"Somebody in our office knew a
contact of Antony Gormley and when it was suggested he might like
to do something with the nails he jumped at the chance."
Mr Gormley said it was rewarding to
work with the material which already had a connection with the
Cathedral and turn its functional life into an imaginative one.
He added: "We are all the temporary
inhabitants of a body. It is our house, instrument and medium.
"Through it, all impressions of the
world come and from it all our acts, thoughts and feelings are
communicated. I hope to have evoked this in the most direct way
possible."
The Dean of Canterbury Cathedral,
the Very Rev Robert Willis added that it was thrilling to have an
Antony Gormley work for which the Cathedral was ‘hugely
grateful’.
He added: "The sense of passage
which the word ‘Transport’ conveys tunes well with the constant
movement of people through this place of prayer and
creativity."
Monday, January 31 2011
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