danica o. kus captures antony gormley's sculptures at musée rodin

critical mass unfolds across The Musée Rodin, paris

Antony Gormley enlivens the halls and gardens of The Musée Rodin with sculptures sparking contemplation about the relationship of the human body with the built environment. Titled Critical Mass, from 17 October 2023 to 3 March 2024 the exhibition will bring together pivotal works from the artist’s 40-year career, fostering a dialogue with Rodin’s pre-existing displays. Visitors are invited to reflect on the mutual commitment of the two sculptors in exploring the body’s role as a subject, object, and reflexive tool in sculpture.

Central to the exhibition is Critical Mass II (1995), an installation featuring sixty life-sized sculptures. Antony Gormley isolates twelve fundamental positions inherent to the human body, casting each position five times and arranging them in diverse configurations. With absurd effects, crawling, squatting, kneeling, and standing, the garden unfolds with a line of these twelve positions leading to Rodin’s iconic The Gates of Hell. Slovenian photographer Danica O. Kus captures this interplay between art and architecture.

all images by Danica O. Kus

antony gormley dialogues the human body with architecture

Continuing the installation into the halls of The Musée Rodin, a dense cluster of cast iron bodies appears as if toppled onto the ground, some pressed against walls, while others hang suspended from the ceiling. ‘The work references the materiality of sculpture and our dependency on the materiality of the body, both being subject to position, context, and jeopardy,’ notes the British artist. Complementing this installation, six of Gormley’s Insider works will inhabit the Marble Galerie, and four selected sculptures will share space with Rodin’s masterpieces in the permanent exhibition rooms of Hotel Biron.

Working models will be displayed alongside Rodin’s maquettes, and a life-size plaster mold, situated near Study for Balzac’s Dressing Gown, acknowledges the shared use of molds and plaster by both artists. Over two hundred of Gormley’s workbooks, containing four decades’ worth of ideas, reflections, and drawings, will also be on view.

The interplay between Gormley’s and Rodin’s works challenges preconceptions about sculpture and its relationship with the body. Additionally, Critical Mass provides a glimpse into Gormley’s creative process and collaborative approach to sculptural creation — an approach traceable back to Rodin’s ow studio and its collective production methods.

Danica O. Kus captures Antony Gormley’s Critical Mass