 (1995), one of Gormley’s best known works, is an installation made up of 60 life-size cast iron body forms and was displayed on the roof of the De La Warr Pavilion. These iron bodyforms are made from twelve discrete moulds of Gormley’s body, developing from a low crouching position to squatting, sitting, kneeling, and standing - an ascent of man ranging through the complex syntax of the body.

On the installation of this work at the De La Warr Pavilion, the artist commented:

‘This is the return of the lost subject to the site of Modernism. It is great to have a chance to test this piece of sculpture against the clarity of Mendelsohn and Chemayeff’s English masterpiece. I am excited to see these dark forms in the elements against the sea and in direct light. It will be like a sky burial. How these masses act in space is very important. The challenge is to make the distance intimate, internal.’

Article on the Critical Mass installation in The Guardian.

De La Warr Pavilion

, 1995, cast iron, 60 life-size elements, variable sizes. Photograph by Nigel Green.

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