Antony Gormley Room

Beautiful large duotone photographs of the interior and exterior of Antony Gormley s ROOM, a giant crouching figure on the façade of London s new Beaumont Hotel, are published alongside a selection of 25 of the artist s dark drawings (1980s to date) and an indepth essay by Professor Margaret Iversen that considers ROOM in relation to Buddhist meditation, liminal states, caves and Brutalist architecture. Describing ROOM, Gormley states, I take the body as our primary habitat. ROOM contrasts a visible exterior of a body formed from large rectangular masses with an inner experience. The interior of ROOM is only 4 metres square but 10 metres high: close at body level, but lofty and open above. Shutters over the window provide total blackout and very subliminal levels of light allow me to sculpt darkness itself. My ambition for this work is that it should confront the monumental with the most personal, intimate experience .