Antony Gormley: Another Place

«Another Place» is Antony Gormley’s spectacular modern art piece at Crosby beach. It features 100 cast iron men, in replica of the artist’s figure, set over 2 miles at the beach looking out into the sea. Some are cast far out into the water, and some of the sculptures are very close to the boardwalk. The sculptures are buried at various depths in the sand (or water), creating a vivid landscape.
They were supposed to move to other cities like New York after their stint in Crosby, but it was decided that the iron men would remain in Crosby. As time has passed, nature has taken over and the men have become one with the sea and their environment as they have been engrossed with moss, algae and corrosion, making them ever more poignant in their location.
Come at sunset for a stunning sky and see the iron men in perfect light! This is a great spot for photographers! The iron men look beautiful in various lights, but especially at sunset.
It’s a great spot to take your dogs for a run on the beach too. There is easy, free parking in the parking lot above the boardwalk too.

My favourite thing to do after eating at The Little Pizza Company is going for a long stroll on nearby Crosby Beach and admiring Antony Gormley’s Another Place.
An ambitious piece of public art, it includes a hundred life-​size sculptures spread across different sections of the beach. Each sculpture is modelled on the artist himself and made from incredibly heavy cast iron. At over six foot two, they also tower above most visitors to the beach and can look incredibly eerie if there’s no-​one else around. The fact all the statues are facing the sea and some are already becoming rusty or decorated with seaweed makes it feel like they are becoming part of the natural habitat and will probably still be standing as the world succumbs to more and more environmental disasters.
An original and soul-​stirring piece of art.

I’ve got nothing against Anthony Gormley. He seems like he knows what he’s doing and his exhibitions are simple, identifiable and streaked through with a tinge of charm. I’ve never seen the Angel of Oop Norf but his ‘Field’, a 35,000-strong army of unblinking terracotta midgets was curiously terrifying. It was great.
Another Place is almost the opposite, but still great. Instead of being tiny, the models, one hundred of them to be accurate, are the realistic 6ft 2 ½in height of the artist, also known by stalkers as my height. Rather than stare at you, the cast iron statues overlook the sea, making them resemble passive monks awaiting their doom as a tidal wave approaches.
There are times you come to this beach on a busy day and it takes twenty minutes of kicking through the surf before you realise you’re the only real human there, deceived by the silent figures planted on the sands. Other times you can climb on their shoulders and see over the horizon to New York. Well, not really.
The only thing that perturbs me about them is their wangs. Seriously, do they have to be there?

Gormley’s done well for a middle aged bloke who gets his bits out for a living — well casts of his bits. His arse must be one of the most famous set of cheeks since Pob.
His Another Place exhibition is a genius piece of art, theatre, promotion and exhibitionism. Genius because like all good works of art it is brilliantly simple and means all things to all men. Seeing this exhibit at different times of the day or never mind times of the year and you can come away with a different feeling each time.
Whatever you think it means or however good you think it is you can’t deny the popularity of the exhibit which draws people from all over the country and region — just to see if Gormley left his front bits on.

I’m not really a huge fan of Anthony Gormley’s statues. To be honest, I think they just look a little weird. As well as this, of all the beaches in the North-​West, I would not choose to go to Crosby. It is permanently ridiculously windy.
For example, on an ‘art’ school trip aged fifteen my sketch-​pad actually flew off and hit our teacher in the face. That’s how insane the weather is there.
However, if you manage to go on a ‘nice day,’ (I believe these occur as often as pig’s fly) then you will no doubt have a lovely day-​out. The views are breath-​taking and the beach is always pretty clean.

Antony Gormley, you just love putting big iron people made from casts of your own self in random places don’t you. This, Another Place, is one of his most famous works, approved by Sefton Council and supported by a number of other arts programs. It occupies three kilometres of the foreshore on Crosby Beach and if you catch it when not many people are around, it looks strangely epic.
There’s been a little controversy over the boys, namely because of their inclusion of a simplified penis which is really only about as aggressive as David Bowie’s crotch-​bulge in Labyrinth… okay, I take that pack. David Bowie’s package in Labyrinth sexually confused me from a very young age. But really, it’s nothing more than a mound, and all the Mary Whitehouses whinging should realise that the men in Another Place are supposed to be nekkid. They should have a sunbathe on one of the German beaches in South Fuerteventura, then they’d REALLY get a shock.
Almost shipped to New York in 2006 but lovingly rescued by a specially set up trust, here are 100 figures in total that offer a different feel at different times of the day. They’re strikingly beautiful at sunset, quirky and mysterious by day. They also happen to weigh in at a whopping 650kg each. He ain’t heavy. He’s my lifesize Antony Gormley-​based statue. All the fellows look out to sea, and the effect is somewhat poetic… gazing out onto the horizon, contemplating life, the universe and everything… something many of us find ourselves doing on a regular basis, and the way they are depicted in different stages of rising from the sand is rather uplifting.
I say see it if you get the chance. It won’t actually take you long to cover the 3 km without realising it and there are funny and poignant photo opportunities aplenty. It’s an unusual piece of art, one that feels like it’s almost living. Very impressive.