ARTificial INtelligence

2. Describe one of Antony Gormley’s installations in relation to the concept of land art.

Angel of the North (1998 )

Angel of the North is a sculpture situated at the mound near the A1 motorway at Gateshead, United Kingdom. It is made or corten steel, and is enormous at 20 metres high. The sculpture resembles a human figure, with wings replacing its arms, outstretched in full wingspan to the figure. The wings are 54 metres across, angled 35 degrees forward. The human figure, though realistic in form and shape, lacks distinguishing details. Features are simplified, and details such as the eyes and mouth are omitted. Although the figure is organic in shape, there is a stark contrast in its wings which have replaced its arms. The wings are very geometrical; a long rectangular “arm” divided into smaller rectangles.

This site specific sculpture is located from a mound created out of the destroyed remains of the pithead baths of the Lower Tyne Colliery. Not only is it a large-scale public sculpture, it is considered a land art because of its interactions with the natural environment around it. Its rusting material is an obvious statement of its interaction with the air. It also becomes a representation of human’s interaction with nature, since its origin was derived from ore mines–men harvesting ore from nature.

[Comments: I didn't include references to other examples of land art, so I will add it in here soon.]