Wednesday 4 February 2015

Antony Gormley's The Angel of the North

I haven't seen The Angel of the North, the huge sculpture by Antony Gormley, up close and personal.
But, when we first moved up North, I did manage to shoot a photo on my phone as we whizzed by on the A1.

I'm sure you know of The Angel of the North, but if not here's a bit of info about it (courtesy of Wikipedia so don't blame me if it's incorrect) -
'The Angel of the North is a contemporary sculpture, designed by Antony Gormley, which is located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. 
Completed in 1998, it is a steel sculpture of an angel, 20 metres (66 ft) tall, with wings measuring 54 metres (177 ft) across.
The wings do not stand straight sideways, but are angled 3.5 degrees forward; Gormley did this to create "a sense of embrace".
It stands on a hill on the southern edge of Low Fell, overlooking the A1 and A167 roads into Tyneside, and the East Coast Main Line rail route, south of the site of Team Colliery.'

Concept -
'According to Gormley, the significance of an angel was three-fold: first, to signify that beneath the site of its construction, coal miners worked for two centuries; second, to grasp the transition from an industrial to information age, and third, to serve as a focus for our evolving hopes and fears.'

Construction -
'Work began on the project in 1994 and cost £1 million. 
Most of the project funding was provided by the National Lottery. The Angel was finished on 16 February 1998.'

Angel of the North. #AngeloftheNorth #sculpture #AntonyGormley #steel #copper #Gateshead #TyneandWear   If you see this sculpture, your life has gone horribly wrong. You are no longer in the South of England. You're oop norf!


It's not a bad photo, considering I shot it through the car window, and over my shoulder after we'd past it, as we drove along the A1. Mr.R was driving not me.

If you're interested there's lot more info about The Angel of the North, on Wikipedia, and elsewhere on the internet - obviously.

I'm not interested enough to ever bother going to see it properly, but I would like to see Another Place - which again, I'm sure you know, is the 100 cast iron sculptures of Antony Gormley's own body, which
stand staring out to sea at Crosby Beach, Merseyside.
Have you seen The Angel of the North by Antony Gormley?
And what about 'Another Place', have you seen those figures?
What do you think about the work of Antony Gormley?

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