Henry Moore and Antony Gormley

Henry Moore:

Henry Moore was born in July of 1898 in the UK. Most of his work depicts abstract forms of the human figure, with his large bronze sculptures gaining the most prominence. Much of his work contains holes or hollowed out areas. He was also influential in bringing a particular form of modernism to the UK.

Antony Gormley:

Antony Gormley is another British sculptor who uses the human form as his subject. He was born in August of 1950. In fact, Gormley regularly uses his own body as the subject of his work and to create metal casts. From his Wikipedia biography, "His work attempts to treat the body not as an object but a place and in making works that enclose the space of a particular body to identify a condition common to all human beings. The work is not symbolic but indexical – a trace of a real event of a real body in time."

Brancusi:

Brancusi was a Romanian sculptor born on February 19, 1876. He was also a painter and photographer and had a specific interest in modernization and geometric shapes and forms. He is called the patriarch of modern sculpture. He started with carving wooden farm tools and as he developed into a young man he started becoming more and more interested in other materials and forms. He grew up in the Carpathian Mountains but became a famous artist and made a career in France. Brancusi learned from Antoin Mercié at his workshop where he worked for two years. He then was invited to work at Auguste Rodin’s workshop but left shortly after because he did not want to be overshadowed.

”bird in space” “sleeping muse”

Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi

November 17, 1904- December 30 1988

Isamu Noguchi

November 17, 1904- December 30 1988

Isamu was the illegitimate son of Yone Noguchi, a Japanese poet, and Léonie Gilmour, an Irish American writer. Over his career Isamu was greatly influenced by the Japanese culture and its techniques. Leading him to do a lot of his work with traditional instruments earlier in his career. A lot of his artwork has a great deal of marks and imperfections that are meant to be shown. His work with enormous pieces of basalt and granite set him apart in the sculpture world as his pieces seemed to surpass anything that anyone else was doing in terms or hard stone carving.

Anish Kapoor

Anish Kapoor Blog Post

Anish Kapoor was born in Mumbai, India. He moved to London to attend the Hornsey College of Art and the Chelsea School of Art and Design. When he went back to India he was inspired to make very interesting sculptures with the use of vast pigments and astonishing architectural forms. One of his inspirations and role models was an artist named Paul Neagu, who was a drawer, sculptor, and performance artist and worked with watercolor. He was part of the void movement. In the 1980’s he was acclaimed for making sculptures with the void style. "In the end, I’m talking about myself. And thinking about making nothing, which I see as a void. But then that’s something, even though it really is nothing." In 1987 he started experimenting with stone. He also had a love for using red wax in his pieces to symbolize blood, flesh. During this time, Ronald Reagan was elected president. John Lennon was shot and the Olympics in Moscow were boycotted.

Cloud Gate

He made this using stainless steel. He used this material so that it would distort images that were projected on it, which he wanted. He wanted it to resemble liquid mercury. It was all about making distortion. It was made by using 168 steel plates welded together but then polished heavily on the exterior so that there are no seams made it. He made a void in the underbelly of the design and designed in a way so that everything is distorted which works with his void style. I think it is all about looking at things in new perspective.

A Flower, A Drama, Like Death

This was made by using Polystyrene, plaster, cloth, gesso, and raw pigment. There was three parts of the sculpture. This was a signature piece because of the pigment he liked to use and his void style. I honestly have no idea what this work was about.

Sky Mirror

This was made using the same materials as cloud gate, except it was made as a polished slightly concave disc that would reflect the sky to show the ever-changing environment. Took 6 years from conception to unveiling. It cost 900,000 pounds. Put in the Kensington Gardens. Anish Kapoor said that it was the best place to put a sculpture. It was 6 meters wide and weighed roughly ten tons. I think this work was about showing the ever-changing environment.

Untitled

This was another pigment sculpture. It was made with his void style. He likes the positioning of sculptures in exhibits because it can make them look very different and can change perspective. I have no idea what this is about.

Turning the World Upside Down

This piece was made with stainless steel as well as is polished so that there are no seams. This piece is literally about turning the world upside down because of the way it reflects. This is another example of his void style and I think it means that we have to look at things with different perspectives.

Stonecarvings

Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois was born on the 25th of December 1911 in Paris France. In 1932 bourgeois mother died and inspired her to trade in a math degree for a artist degree. She was a very influential figure on modern and contemporary art and is recognized as the founder of confessional art. When she started art school she was told that she should go into sculptor rather then painting. Her most famous piece is a giant spider that has been placed all around the world and earned her the nick name the Spiderwomen. She died on the 31^st of may in 2010 after living a full life and continued to work on her art till that day that she died.