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Sculptures by Antony Gormley '6 Times' |
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'6 Times' Photos |
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Figure I Buried up to its chest at the main pedestrian entrance to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Belford Road |
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Figure II Sited in a pool in the Water of Leith at Dean, near the foot of the steps leading down to the river from the back of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. |
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Figure III Sited in the Water of Leith at Stockbridge, immediately upstream from the bridge at Deanhaugh Street |
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Figure IV Sited in the Water of Leith at Powderhall close to the footbridge over the river downstream from where Warriston Road crosses the river. Update - July 2010 Unfortunately, this statue that appears to have vanished from the Water of Leith, around July 22, 2010 Update - May 1, 2011 Fortunately, this statue has reappeared at the same position in the river within the past few days, after apparently being 'missing' for several months. The National Gallery of Scotland tells me that the statue had merely been submerged, through the operation of a hinge mechanism to protect it from strong currents in the Water of Leith. I had not been able to see any sign of the statue above or below the water in recent months, so I was surprised to see it when it re-appeared recently. |
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Figure V Sited on a quiet stretch of the Water of Leith at Bonnington, downstream from where Newhaven Road crosses the river. Update - July 2010 Unfortunately, this statue that appears to have vanished from the Water of Leith, around July 22, 2010 Update - May 1, 2011 This statue, just like Figure IV above, has now re-appeared. Both of these figures give the appearance of having been submerged in mud for a long time!. |
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Figure VI Sited on an abandoned pier, close to the NW corner of Ocean Terminal shopping and entertainment complex at Leith Western Harbour. |
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'6 Times' Background |
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Gormley Sculptures Antony Gormley is perhaps best know for his sculptures: - 'Angel of the, North' a 20m tall landmark constructed on a hill overlooking Gateshead in NE England in 1998. - 'Another Place', a hundred cast-iron figures facing out to sea on Crosby Beach near Liverpool |
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Edinburgh Sculptures Gormley formally launched his latest creation, '6 Times', in Edinburgh on June 22, 2010. It comprises six life-size solid cast iron figures. The first is buried up to its chest in the pavement at the entrance to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Belford Road. The others lie along the course of the Water of Leith, between the galley and Leith Western Harbour. The statues are all taken from casts of Gormley's own body. They were built in Gormley's London studio at a cost of £400,000. They weigh 3/4 ton each. Antony Gormley said he considered them to be fairly robust. They are expected to disintegrate and wear at different rates, but he expects them to last about 1,000 years, so he was not too concerned about the attention given to them when they were placed in the river. (Somebody added a woolly hat to one of them and a pink bikini to another - but the clothing had been removed before I got chance to photograph them.) |
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Update 1 - June 2010 |
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'Dial 999' The Edinburgh Evening News reported that: - two passers-by had seen the statue at Bonnington in the river, beneath an overhanging branch and had thought it was a man hanging from the tree so they dialled 999 on their mobile phone and the Police were there to investigate within five minutes. - Police had also received emergency phone calls on an earlier occasion, when Gormley placed similar casts on the edge of rooftops in London, for his installation, Event Horizon. Edinburgh Evening News, June 17, 2010: P.3 |
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Update 2 - July 2010 |
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Dressing the Statues The Edinburgh Evening News reported that soon after being installed, the Gormley statues were found to have been decorated by members of the public: - one was found wearing a MacDonald's T-shirt - one was wearing an "I Love Leith" T-shirt - one was wearing a pink bikini - one had a bath tub over his head. The Evening News article included photos of these four statues. Edinburgh Evening News, July 1, 2010: Pp. 20-21 |
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Update 3 - July 2010 |
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Gormley Sculptures - Two Vanished The Edinburgh Evening News reported on July 23, 2010 that, unfortunately, two of the Gormley statues had vanished overnight. They are the statues that stood in the Water of Leith at Powderhall and at Bonnington. The Scottish National Galleries do not believe that the statues have been stolen. They say that they may have collapsed following heavy rain that caused rapids along the Water of Leith. A National Galleries of Scotland spokesperson explained that the statues were designed to collapse under certain amounts of pressure. Edinburgh Evening News, July 23, 2010: P.3 |
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Gormley Sculptures - Still not Found However, when I visited the site of the Powderhall statue today, I could see the platform for the statue under the water, but no evidence of the statue anywhere around. Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: July 26, 2011 |
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Statue Reappears At least one of the statues has re-appeared. Please see 'Update May 1, 2011' in the table at the top of this page. Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: May 1, 2011 |