''Field'' (1991) is a sculpture by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

artist

Antony Gormley Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the ''Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another Pl ...

. It consists of approx. 35,000 individual

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

figures, each between 8 and 26 cm high, installed on the floor of a room facing the viewer. The figures were sculpted in Cholula,

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

by about 60 members of a Texca family of brickmakers, under the supervision of the artist. The sculpture received a lot of media attention upon its first display, and many affectionate parodies. ''Field'' has been installed and displayed at various locations. The specific configuration is changed to suit each location, but the miniature figures are always placed to form a dense carpet with each figure looking towards the viewer. Ideally the Field is extended through a doorway or round a corner, so that the figures going out of sight leave the impression of an unlimited horde. Several other versions of ''Field'' have subsequently been created, including *''Amazonian Field'' (1991) made in

Porto Velho Porto Velho (, ''Old Port'') is the capital (political), capital of the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of Rondônia, in the upper Amazon River basin. The population is 460,434 people (as of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

(approx. 24,000 figures) *''Field for the British Isles'' (1993) made in St Helens near

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in the UK (approx. 40,000 figures) *''European Field'' (1993) made in

Östra Grevie Östra Grevie is a urban areas of Sweden, locality situated in Vellinge Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 598 inhabitants in 2010. References

Populated places in Vellinge Municipality {{Skåne-geo-stub ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

(approx. 40,000 figures) *''Asian Field'' (2003) made in

Xiangshan County, Guangdong Xiangshan County, also spelled Hsiangshan, Siangshan, Heungsan, and Heungshan, was a former county in Southern China. From 1912, it was a county in Guangdong Province, in the Republic of China. It was renamed Zhongshan (then usually romanized "C ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

province,

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(approx. 190,000 figures) *''Field for the Art Gallery of New South Wales'' (1989) ''Field for the British Isles'' was typical in recruiting some 100 volunteers from the pupils and their extended families, of two local schools in St Helens. Each volunteer was given a portion of the 30 tonnes of clay required, along with some loose instructions specifying the rough size and proportions for the figures. An accidental feature of the original Field was that Texca family involved people aged from 6 to 60 working on the figures, and Gormley felt that the involvement of three generations of a family should be continued in all the subsequent versions. Gormley has also made several other works entitled ''Field'', but these are smaller groups of life size figures more typical of Gormley's earlier work. In 1994, Gormley won the

Turner prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

with a collection of his work, including ''Field for the British Isles'', shown at the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

References

External links

Antony Gormley's Official siteOverview of the ''Field'' project''Field'' at the Tate Liverpool
in 2004

review of ''Field for the British Isles'', exhibited at the British Museum in 2002. {{Antony Gormley British art Installation art works Outdoor sculptures Sculptures by Antony Gormley 1991 sculptures Terracotta sculptures