1 n. 16 aprile / luglio 2017 Antony Gormley: Redefining the Body, Restructuring the Space By Ekaterina Kochetkova The present paper touches upon certain aspects in the work of Sir Antony Gormley (born in London in 1950), a prominent contemporary sculptor known for his interest in the topic of interrelations between body and space. His concept of the essence of sculpture is grounded in the unending dialogue with the historic tradition, and this dialogue spans across three predominant themes: representation of the human body, the material and the ephemeral in a work of art, and the interaction of the piece with its surroundings and the viewer. In certain aspects, Gormley deliberately addresses the past; in others, he takes radical turns away from it, resorting to modern and contemporary artistic practices, such as minimalist abstraction or performance. In numerous interviews, the artist stresses the importance of body as key notion in his work; however, this subject remains largely understudied. This paper intends to fill some gaps, and investigate Gormley’s methods of representing or, rather, redefining the body in sculpture and its relations to space. Today, Gormley’s creative achievement and celebrity status are confirmed by many prestigious awards, including the Turner Prize (UK, 1994), Praemium Imperiale (Japan, 2013), and the Order of the British Empire (2014), to name just a few. He entered the art scene in the 1970s, when the so-called ‘immaterial’ artistic practices were in vogue, with Conceptual Art leading the way. Gormley received his artistic education at major London institutions – Saint Martin’s School of Arts, Goldsmiths College, and Slade School of Fine Art. Before that, he studied archaeology, anthropology, classics, and art history at Cambridge University; this academic training predetermined his interest in sculptural heritage. Answering repeating questions about his sources of inspiration, the artist inevitably names classical examples like the Ludovisi Throne, in which Gormley can sense a «kind of breath». 1 His most important inspiration is Michelangelo’s late work, especially the Rondanini Pietà, which Gormley sees as