Basking in the sun: Antony Gormley, ‘QUANTUM CLOUD XIV’

Antony Gormley
Quantum Cloud XIV, 2000

Stainless steel
250 x 163 x 160cm / 98 ½ x 64 ¼ x 63 in.

Our English countryside has recently been blessed with glorious sunshine. Today, glinting in the sun, we take a look at Gormley’s Quantum Cloud XIV.

Gormley has written of this series:

'How can you convey the fact that the presence of somebody is greater or different from their appearance? It is an open question in the QUANTUM CLOUDS - whether the body is emerging from a chaotic energy field, or the field from the body.'

QUANTUM CLOUDS are a series of unique sculptures that all address this question. The largest, called QUANTUM CLOUD, is on permanent display outside the O2 in London: standing at 30m tall, it is one of Gormley's tallest sculptures to date. Internationally, QUANTUM CLOUD XIX is in the collection of the Denver Art Museum; likewise QUANTUM CLOUD VIII and QUANTUM CLOUD XV are both in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.