British sculptor Antony Gormley, who gave a slide lecture in Philadelphia recently (read Libby’s post), has a new old work debuting at Tate Modern, according to this morning’s Guardian. Gormley’s bed, made in 1980 out of 8,000 pieces of white bread (Mothers Pride) each piece chewed out so that the total vacuum approximated the artist’s body mass, is a work dear to Tate Director Nicholas Setota who, as a young curator, put it in a show. The work (the bread was dipped into hot wax to preserve it from molding), takes the outline of the artist’s body and looks like that other kind of mold. It reminded me of some Ana Mendieta body-impression works which I thought was an apt comparison actually. (image is Gormley standing in front of “Bed”)
According to the article, “Bed” was the model for Gormley’s 1998 public sculpture “Angel of the North” a 150-ton iron and steel figure with a wingspan longer than that of a 747 jumbo jet. (shown) “Angel,” from 1998, is sited next to the A1 motorway in Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne.
And on this side of the big water, the NY Times has a great slide show and story about New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast who has her debut gallery solo in Chelsea’s Julie Saul gallery opening Dec. 9. Read here. (Username lrrfartblog, password artblog)
Chast will show watercolor drawings of her cartoons from the last several years and some Ukranian eggs she’s been working on. (image) The article’s a great backgrounder and the slideshow has shots of the artist at work. Most folks (me included) love Chast’s cartoons which are funny and right on target about families and modern life. For years, I kept her “Bad Mom” trading cards cartoon on my refrigerator. Their take on the children/mother relationship was perfect. (Mom can do no right.)
And finally, Holland Cotter kisses the PMA’s new Pontormo exhibit in a lengthy review that leads off with how the artist was considered a “nut job” in his day. That’s today’s early morning snort.
