Putting yourself around London

The artist who created two of the most photographed pieces of modern sculpture in the UK, the Angel of the North in Gateshead and the life size figures stuck in the sand on Crosby beach near Liverpool, is going to be installing some of his work around central London.

Antony Gormley made cast iron replicas of his own body, each 6’2.5″ high and weighing about 1400lbs, and placed 100 of them over a 2 mile area of Crosby beach facing the sea. As the tide comes in and out more or less of the sculptures are revealed. The local Crosby council have agreed that 81 should remain permanently on the beach and Gormley is set to erect 30 of the same size statues around London.

The London ones will be at places like Waterloo Bridge and the National Theatre, spread within a 1.5 sq.km area from the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank where Gormley will be having an exhibition. I doubt if the London authorities will be so generous in letting the figures remain as a long term fixture.