A second highlight of the Laurence Edwards exhibition we visited at the week-end was the film presented by the artist of the creation and siting of his recent work, The Yoxman.* This is a bronze sculpture of a standing male, 26 ft. high, located in a field outside the Suffolk village of Yoxford. The film reviewed the development of the project to its placing on location. I’m not sure whether the technical achievement of creating and mounting of this immense work, or the artistic achievement of conceiving it, was the more impressive. Either way, it now towers over the A12 road north of Saxmundham. It reminds me in that respect of Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North, looming over the AI outside Gateshead …. although I suspect that this is a comparison which both artists both expect and resent.
In contrast to the semi-abstract, evidently engineered figure by Gormley, Edwards’ Yoxman is a fully-human, naked male, reminding me of the idealised figures of the ancient world. In contrast to the classical Greek concept of kalokagathia, however, embodying the moral and physical ideals of perfect manhood, the Yoxman’s coarse and broken surface and downcast face embody a history of human suffering. Even as the subject of a film rather than as an object with which one is mutually present, I found it immensely moving. I’m resigned to having to make a journey in the near future to remote rural Suffolk. This is another artistic experience I must not miss.
One other element of the Messums Gallery in Tisbury is really noteworthy, and that is the immense fourteenth century thatched and cruck-construction tithe barn in which the larger elements of exhibitions can be presented. This is a tremendous asset to the Messums project, as it makes possible the display of very large works, in one medium or another, which would be impossible to accommodate in any conventional gallery. Perhaps Tate Modern might manage it, but the loss to the viewer in terms of atmosphere would be dreadful. It is worth visiting this architectural gem for its own sake.
*See the previous post, reporting on our visit to the Messums Gallery, in Tisbury, Wiltshire.