"Bowl Object", 1984

Antony Gormley started working with lead because it was a material that he could mould and construct himself in the studio by beating and soldering. All the first lead work involved covering and uncovering, insulating and revealing found objects, either closed forms like stones or open forms like bowls and shields. He likes the fact that most archaeological records come in the form of ceramic or metal pots, which reveal the process of their own making and are both tools and indexes of survival. Gormley himself categorizes the bowls as "Object Works", which he created between 1981 and 1985.