One of Britain’s most iconic and majestic homes, Houghton Hall has captivated visitors for decades with its grand Palladian architecture and rich history. But now the Norfolk estate has a new attraction: a striking art installation by renowned sculptor Sir Antony Gormley.
Gormley’s latest exhibition, titled “Time Horizon,” is a collection of 100 life-size iron sculptures spread across 300 acres.
“I want the work to pierce the apparent surface of things and make you think about what’s underneath everything,” Gormley said, speaking to CBS at the White Cube gallery in New York.
These figures are placed at different depths in the landscape, some buried so deep that only the tops of their heads are visible. It took four and a half months to install the exhibition.
The sculptures are cast in the image of Gormley himself. To create the cast, the artist covered it in plaster and it took an hour to cut it out.
“I try to forget all that,” Gormley said with a laugh.
Gormley said he wanted to offer visitors an installation that was both thought-provoking and deeply personal.
“We’re so used to art being a reproduction of the world we already know. I want it to be, in a way, a place where you create the image,” Gormley said.
Gormley is known worldwide for his sculptures, including the “Angel of the North”, which overlooks a British motorway and is seen by some 33 million travellers each year. His iron men have also stood sentinel on a beach near Liverpool and on the streets and buildings of New York.
The seventh Marquess of Cholmondeley, current owner of Houghton Hall, commissioned Gormley’s work and allowed one of the iron figures to be partially buried in what the artist calls “essentially his front room”.
Gormley’s inspiration for “Time Horizon” dates back to a trip he made to the United States as a graduate student in 1979, when he visited Walter De Maria’s “Lightning Field” in New Mexico. The experience left a lasting impression on Gormley, who described it as a “revelation” and a “revolution in the way art could work.”
“Time Horizon,” Gormley explains, is not just a work of art, but a space in which visitors are fully immersed. Gormley said the installation changes depending on the quality of light, the time of year and the state of mind of those who experience it.
“I would like my work to be a kind of catalyst to reinforce the first-hand experience. The feeling that, in some way, you know, there is a miracle in being alive,” he said.
Visitors to Houghton Hall are invited to explore the grounds and experience the installation until October 31.
Anthony Mason
