Standing at a distance in front of the gate of the exhibition hall of the China National Museum, British sculptor Antony Gormley gazed at the massive army of clay figures for quite some time.
Towering over the 192,000 hand-sized clay figures, the tall and lean Gormley looked like a martial general surveying his troops.
In this past week Gormley has been busy installing all the exhibits for his so-called "Asian Field" exhibition, which is free to view and will run from Sunday until end of August in the museum beside Tian'anmen Square at the heart of Beijing.
Gormley is now very familiar with the cute clay figures, as he has overseen their creation since January. He guided some 350 villagers in Guangdong Province to create them using 100 tons of mud.
Yet he still looks upon them with awe.
"When I gaze at them, it is a kind of collaboration with the spirits of the unborn and of our ancestors," said a rather philosophical Gormley, who used to study anthropology and archaeology in his youth, as well as sculpting and art history.
"I think the relevance of my Field work is shown in such gazes - of looking at them and being looked at by them. This is the faculty of the work."
The small clay figures stand side by side to form such an imposing scene, that anyone who enters the spacious hall tends to stop and marvel at them.
Simply made in hand sizes and standing vertically on the floor, with two impressive holes - "eyes" - set deeply in their round heads, they seem to have a consciousness like humans do, gazing at viewers with silent, potential power.
"The making of Asian Field in China turned out to be such a wonderful experience for me," recalled Gormley. Since 1990, he has made Field exhibitions in five different fields on earth, and this one is believed to be the largest - "five times larger than any of the Fields" created and exhibited in other areas.
His idea was to let local people make clay figures with local mud. "The objects look primitive and simple, yet they have subtlety in it."
To him, his series of Field works are about difference: that between the individuals who made it, and the difference that exists between one geographical area and another.
Gormley found it a pleasant surprise that people in China "got into the spirit of making these sculptures more quickly than anywhere else in the world."
"They (the Chinese clay makers) would love to sit closer to the earth, and they shared joy collectively in a spacious field where we made clay figures together for five days."
He was especially impressed that "co-operation and mutual support happened so naturally during their making in China."
In this sense, every maker was the creator of his/her own works, Gormley said.
"Although simple and crude, each clay figure that was made is unique, individual and particular," he said.
What interests him in his series of Field works, which he is determined to continue, is that each maker goes on a journey to find their own form in the process of making the figures. "The works are witnesses of their own existence."
"My Field works ask lots of questions, making viewers think of our own identities. Who are we? Who can we be?"
An established British artist, mainly regarded as a sculptor and most famous for his clay figures, Gormley seems to take great pride in his creation of Field work. "It is an escape from the idea of making unique works to be sold for money. It touches the bases of common people's creativity."
On comparing his work with the Terracotta Warriors created by the order of the Qin Emperor - the first emperor in ancient China - Gormley claimed there were fundamental differences.
"The Qin Terracotta Warriors are symbols of control and power of dictators whereas my Field work tends to give up control, and in a sense give the power away."
Gormley said he is just a generator and a catalyst for common people to make their own unique works.
"Sculpture is a form of thinking. And this Field work is a big thought in lots of little pieces," said Gormley of his artistic ideas.
"In it there is no message (that I want to elaborate). It is itself a reservoir that holds unspoken and uncommunicated feelings."
Gormley claimed he has no expectation from viewers, except one suggestion. "Give the work time to affect yourself."
(China Daily July 28, 2003)
