Antony Gormley: Sound II
Title: Sound II
Artist: Antony Gormley (b. 1950, British)
Location: Winchester Cathedral (C of E)
Date: 1986
Sound II is a contemplative figure which sometimes stands in water when the crypt floods.
Nominated by Richard Holloway (Chair of the Scottish Arts Council and former Bishop of Edinburgh), who writes:
‘This work moves me because it captures the uncertainty of the human condition. We are animals who are puzzled by the riddle of our own existence and whether it has any meaning. Who are we and where do we come from? These are the questions we are born asking, and they prompt answers we go on questioning. There we stand, hearing the sound of our own questions and the sound of our own answers, yet never satisfied, never finished with the task … there we stand, pondering the sound we make, longing for silence …’
British sculptor Antony Gormley (b. 1950) has become synonymous with British contemporary sculpture inciting a regeneration of interest in the human form on both intimate and monumental scales. Gormley is best known for his solitary metal figures that even when installed in groups retain their sense of solitude and reflection. Gormley describes his work as ‘an attempt to materialise the place at the other side of appearance where we all live.’ Many of his works are based on moulds taken from his own body, or ‘the closest experience of matter that I will ever have and the only part of the material world that I live inside.’ Among his best-known works are the Angel of the North in Gateshead, Quantum Cloud on the Thames in Greenwich and Blind Light exhibited at The Hayward Gallery in 2007. Gormley has exhibited at the Venice Biennale and Documenta 8. He was the recipient of the Turner Prize in 1994.
Further Information
Medium: Fibreglass, lead, water
Size: 188 × 60 × 45 cm
Permanent display
See Antony Gormley’s Sound II on the Ecclesiart map here.
Other artworks in churches by Antony Gormley: Transport in Canterbury Cathedral
Other modern and contemporary works of art in Winchester Cathedral: Peter Eugene Ball, Pieta, 1990 and Crucifx, 1990; Cecil Collins, Christ before the Judge, 1954-6; Angela Connor, Memorial to John Tavener, 2016; Leslie Durbin, The Cross, 1966; Eric Gill, Agnus Dei, 1920 (bought by the cathedral in 1993); Sophie Hacker, Processional Cross (in memory of James Atwell), 2022; Sophie Hacker and the Cathedral Broderers, Water into Wine frontal, 2020; Maggi Hambling, The Winchester Tapestries, 2013; Tim Harrisson, Sounding, 1997; David John, The Birinus Cross, 1979; Alice Kettle, Altar Cloth for the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, 1994; Justin Knowles, Blue Cross, 2001; Bryony Knox, Aumbry Lamp, 2005; Rachel Schwalm, panel for Altar in the Venerable Chapel, 2011; Tracey Sheppard, Glass panels for Epiphany Chapel, 2000; Peter Smith, Paschal Candle, 1986; Glynn Williams, The Wiliam Walker Memoral Sculpture, 2001.