Gormley Quotes & Sayings

I'm glad I found you."
"Gee, that makes exactly one of us," I muttered, not bothering to look at him. "Say, don't you have a wife to go bone?"
"You knew I was married all along, Topher." He sounded weary, as though I was being bothersome. Jackass. — Amelia C. Gormley

There is no question that creative intelligence comes not through learning things you find in books or histories that have already been written, but by focusing on and giving value to experience as it happens. — Antony Gormley

Art has to change things, and if it was immediately acceptable it would not be doing the job. — Antony Gormley

This isn't a complaint, but I have to ask why you do that."
"Do what?"
"Touch me like you have every right in the world to. You do it even before it's a sure thing that I'll sleep with you."
"I don't know." His voice lifted, sounding slightly puzzled. "I think because whenever you're within arm's reach, it seems like my hands would feel more natural on you than they would hanging at my sides. — Amelia C. Gormley

I did spend a lot of time as a child very confused about whether I had a devil in me, or whether I was in a state of grace. I mean, these ideas are so potent to anybody with half an imagination. — Antony Gormley

Never stop dreaming of moonbeams and fairy dust, shiny stars and the wonder of the heavens, a happier life and a better world. — James Gormley

I'm trying to make work that is reflective and is encouraging of reflection. — Antony Gormley

Are you kidding? If Archer McLovelyArms wants you to spend the whole weekend, you go, girl. Get you some."
She snorted. "His name's Cody Rey."
I quirked an eyebrow, even though she wasn't there, and for the first time in the entire conversation, banter didn't feel forced.
"You sure he's an archer? Sounds more like a gunslinger. Just what exactly is he packing? — Amelia C. Gormley

You race toward something You don't know what you'll find But you'll notice it when you see it You say, "there must be more Out there waiting silently" You know your place But you hate it just the same - Casey Stratton, "Harvest. — Amelia C. Gormley

We are not moving towards some kind of goal. We are at the goal, and it is changing with us. If art has any purpose, it is to open our eyes to that fact. — Antony Gormley

My forehead hit the table again with a thud. Ow. The words left me in a rush.
"I'm-fucking-the-married-closeted-father-of-my-only-close-friend-in-the-entire-world-and-his-wife-is-going-to-be-here-in-two-weeks."
I heard the hiss as Robin sucked his breath in between his teeth. "Ouch."
"Yeah." I sighed, my forehead rubbing against the table as I nodded miserably. At least he didn't try to deny the idiotic part.
"You know there's absolutely no way that can end well."
"Duh. — Amelia C. Gormley

I would say that the whole way that I have approached the body is as a space, not a thing - not an object to be improved, idealised or whatever, but simply to be dwelt in. — Antony Gormley

'6 Times' is an attempt to reinvestigate the social responsibility of sculpture. The body in question is a particular body, but it doesn't really matter whose it is. — Antony Gormley

I want to start where language ends. — Antony Gormley

I think that the equator could act as a great equalizer for all life on Earth, celebrated as the great energy belt of the planet. If all our energy grids were synchronized, the light side of the planet could provide energy for the dark side, according to the movement of the sun. — Antony Gormley

I believe in the city as a natural human environment, but we must humanize it. It's art that will re-define public space in the 21st Century. We can make our cities diverse, inspirational places by putting art, dance and performance in all its forms into the matrix of street life. — Antony Gormley

I shrugged uncomfortably, leaning my head against hers, almost forgetting Mr. Gardner's presence as Mo and I fell into that sort of exclusionary, near-telepathic best-friends communion. She knew that I would argue that I wasn't ashamed, but that I hadn't quite figured out how to truly mean it when I held my head up high. My entire life, people had been telling me to keep it down and stop being an embarrassment. So, I was still in that "fake it 'til you make it" stage, hoping genuine pride would come if I pretended confidence long enough. For now, I was relying on bravado and a complete lack of give-a-fuck to carry me through. — Amelia C. Gormley

Most big cities like London and Glasgow have great big rivers that are unmissable. What's brilliant about the Water of Leith is that it's so hidden. It's a secret. — Antony Gormley

It's wonderful to see art in a museum, but it is institutionalised. I don't like the idea of the artwork as something that requires special conditions. I would like it to be universal. — Antony Gormley

I don't know if I'll ever go through with it. I'm just too much of a perfectionist, I guess.
I'd rather be nothing than be middle-of-the-road."
She hugged me tightly.
"You're not middle-of-the-road, Topher. You're fast lane, all the way. You just, you know, need to find the right car. — Amelia C. Gormley

Our appearance belongs to others, we live in the darkness of the body-part of all darkness but felt. — Antony Gormley

I think scale is about, in a way, the apprehension of proportion, and all the proportions that mean things to us as human beings are related to the body. — Antony Gormley

Don't you see, angel?"
His arms tightened around me. "You're still on your feet.
You may hate yourself for every little mistake you make, but
the fact that you've survived means you've come out on top. It
might not be a perfect victory, but those are really, really rare.
Every day you stand up and face life again is a win. — Amelia C. Gormley

The elemental world we all live in is the darkness of the body. — Antony Gormley

I always like to look for adventure when I go away. I have gone on several horse adventures with my wife - from Guangxi we went up to the High Tibetan region. We also went along the Hurunui River on horseback in the South Island of New Zealand. — Antony Gormley

I used to think that the great thing about sculpture was that, like Stonehenge, it was something that stood against time in an adamantine way, and was an absolute mass in space. Now I try to use the language of architecture to redescribe the body as a place. — Antony Gormley

It doesn't matter if you can't speak the same language. If you have pictures, or better still, if you can draw things, then you can communicate anything to anyone. — Antony Gormley

I was educated by monks - I thank them dearly for the education they gave me, but I am no longer a Catholic. — Antony Gormley

Cities have become places where we are controlled, by CCTV and other means, in the same way as machines are controlled. My works provide an imaginative space in which this can be challenged. It's like opening a window in a closed room. — Antony Gormley

The very first lead work that I made is called 'Land Sea and Air,' and is the enclosure of primal elements within that kind of carapace of lead. — Antony Gormley

It was fantastic to be able to have my kids on set. Dash, my eldest son, who's not quite five, was into knights and his godmother had given him a plastic Marks & Spencer knights' outfit and [first assistant director] Tommy Gormley said that he could stand to protect me during the scene where Clive [Owen] is talking about the immensity of sitting on the throne. I'm actually looking through an archway at my son standing in his knights' costume protecting me! — Cate Blanchett

Forget that voice that says you're a failure if you can't do it all yourself. Listen to the people who are saying you can for once, instead of all the ones who have told you that you can't. — Amelia C. Gormley

I had this coming. I just have to take my medicine. I think I'll spend the weekend brooding about what a shitty friend I am and mourning the loss of the friendship. I might have Ben & Jerry over to keep me company. Or maybe Ernest and Julio Gallo."
"Hey, no threesomes unless I get to watch. — Amelia C. Gormley

I just want my work to be part of the elemental world. — Antony Gormley

The haunting and haunted remnants of an abandoned world. And in Darius's arms each night, when reason returned and they lay together, drained and weary, Rhys decided there was something inescapably beautiful about the fact that they made these memories in ruined places. — Amelia C. Gormley

You ain't no plastic doll, boy," he growled, inches away from Rhys's lips. "You just need to be handled right. — Amelia C. Gormley

I'd like to do two sets, if you don't mind. One nude before we fuck, and another when we're done." He pressed close, brushing his lips along my jaw until I turned to welcome the kiss. His voice dropped to a sexy murmur. "I want to capture the look in your eyes, before and after. Hungry, then satisfied. — Amelia C. Gormley

The sky should be the limit for
you right now, angel. — Amelia C. Gormley

Would smashing Lukas's face into the doorjamb as he brushed past count as "sticking together," as long as he didn't let go afterward? — Amelia C. Gormley

I don't know your story, and I'm not going to ask for any more than you want to give. But I know, I can just tell from the way you act, that people have tried to take things from you, tried to take you from you. They tried to take away something amazing, something that deserves more, something that wants to shine. I see it. I see the part they never managed to steal, no matter how hard they tried ... Your soul, he whispered, answering the unspoken inquiry. — Amelia C. Gormley

Public money should be spent on art but through individuals not committees. — Antony Gormley

My best travelling experience lasted several years: between 1971 and 1974 when I bummed around the East. All I had with me was a cooking pot, a stove, a map and blankets and a couple of dhotis. — Antony Gormley

Please, can you just stop being such a bitch for two fucking minutes? Jesus."
He ran his hand through his hair, clenching his fingers near his scalp.
I gave him a scathing look and turned away again. "Fuck you. You're not queer enough to call me a bitch. — Amelia C. Gormley

You want to sub, baby, but you've got no idea what it means. When you give someone the power to do what they want to you, you also give them the responsibility of keeping you safe. Otherwise, you can't ever really give in and let go. — Amelia C. Gormley

It's a wonderful thing to make work that is unadorned either by context, framing or label, that can exist in the changing conditions of light, weather, wind. — Antony Gormley

Art is the means by which we communicate what it feels like to be alive - in the past, that was mixed up with other illustrative duties, but that was still its central function that has been liberated in the art called modern. — Antony Gormley

Making beautiful things for everyday use is a wonderful thing to do - making life flow more easily - but art confronts life, allowing it to stop and perhaps change direction - they are completely different. — Antony Gormley

Art is not about understanding, it's about experience. — Antony Gormley

Fuck it. After oh-so-suavely bleeding all over him, I wasn't getting any tonight anyway. — Amelia C. Gormley

How do you make the timelessness of inert, silent objects count for something? How to use the, in a way, dumbness of sculpture in a way that acts on us as living things? — Antony Gormley

I echoed his groan as I pushing into him, fast and hard, knowing now that we were both burning, burning, my nipples and his ass, and Jesus, wasn't that a metaphor for whatever was happening between us? I was just on fire for him, in a way I'd never been before, for his pale skin and dark hair and red lips, for both the fucking incendiary raunch and the heartbreaking sensitivity that came in turns from his brilliant artist's mind. — Amelia C. Gormley

What is it? What is it?!" I began dumping clothes out of the dresser drawers, snatching them on as quickly as I could before hauling my suitcase and large duffel out of the closet. I would not cry. I would not cry! "Brendan, what was the only fucking thing I asked from you that first night? Do you remember?"
He blinked, scrubbing a hand through his tousled hair. "You ... you asked me to respect you. Which I do, I'm just trying to - "
"Oh, really?" I gave him a derisive sneer as I threw wadded clothes into my bags and began slamming about, looking for odds and ends I might have missed. "That's what you call this? You offer to put me up like your personal rent-boy in some no-tell motel and promise to drop by every few days for a booty call while your wife's in town, and you think that's not demeaning? Well, fuck you. — Amelia C. Gormley

Gavin's reply was almost too soft to be heard. "That's a crime." "Pardon? What is?" "That you don't get to handle wood as often as you'd like." "Sorry?" Derrick blinked in confusion, missing the innuendo entirely for a split second before his brain made the connection. — Amelia C. Gormley

I think critics are very useful. But I think that they, in a way, betray their position when they stop people looking for themselves. — Antony Gormley

Judgment is very easy, but I think, on the whole, professional critics maybe see too much, and compare too much, and forget the joy of actually looking and contemplating for its own sake. — Antony Gormley

The making of a whole person and the creation of true individuals can only happen by singing and dancing and making art. — Antony Gormley

Western Australia is covered by granite, the largest single piece of Achaean rock that still lies on the surface of the, of, of the Earth, that's 2.5 to 2.9 billion years old. It's one of the most ancient and intact bits of the Earth's crust. — Antony Gormley

If your work doesn't speak to people, it's beyond comprehension and risible, but if people engage with it, you become tarred with the brush of populism. — Antony Gormley

It is a depressing business talking to journalist. — Antony Gormley

These aren't me!" I screamed in a whisper, two tears slipping down my cheeks. "Whatever you see, it's not me. I'm just a fuck-up who doesn't know anything, not even what he's doing from moment to moment. And I'm scared all the time, and I don't know how to be anything else, except maybe angry and sad."
His arms tightened around me. "I don't need you to be perfect. I don't need you to never make mistakes. I just need you to let me give you as much of myself as I can, and to trust that I will try as hard as possible never to hurt you intentionally. Can you do that? Can you just let me love you? — Amelia C. Gormley

I want people to be excited about cooling towers and megasheds; they're as much part of our history as the rural barn. — Antony Gormley

I would like to go to Kalimantan island in Sumatra to see the carvings and longhouse sculptures. I've also always wanted to look at the wood carvings along the Sepik River in New Guinea. — Antony Gormley

Cheese makes a rubbish eraser. — Greg Gormley

It is as much the conversations between objects as between us and objects that make museums so valuable. — Antony Gormley

I ended up taking Ben & Jerry and the Gallo brothers home that night, so it was a real orgy, if a very maudlin and self-indulgent one. — Amelia C. Gormley

I would see anything by Antony Gormley. — Kate Fleetwood

Due to the failure of politics, which has become a process of middle-management, art has become one of the last open spaces to question core beliefs and to design a viable future. Art becomes an open space where we can ask fundamental questions about ourselves. — Antony Gormley

Well, look at it this way," Robin reasoned as I sat with him and Geoff at their kitchen table that night, half-plastered from the pitcher of margarita they'd blended up. Was I going to have a tequila hangover in the morning? Oh, honey, you bet your sweet ass I was. And how many fucks did I give?
Not a one.
"Even if you were overreacting to read what you read into this guy's offer - which I don't think you were, though I doubt he actually thought it through enough to intend it to be read that way - you still have to ask yourself: What's in it for you, hanging around some motel room waiting for a married man to make a booty call? What benefit would you get out of that situation, or out of prolonging your relationship with him? He might not have meant it to be an insulting offer, but it was absolutely a one hundred percent selfish offer. There was no upside for you whatsoever, unless the sex really was just that amazing. — Amelia C. Gormley

Ew. Can you not talk about my dad ogling people? Scarlett Johansson may be gorgeous, but still."
"It'll be a challenge, but I think I can refrain from licking the screen," Brendan deadpanned, placing the wine bottle on the coffee table next to the bowl of popcorn before settling into the chair where he'd been working on his computer earlier.
"Ew! Dad! — Amelia C. Gormley

I added, my voice dropping to the husky growl that made his pupils dilate just ... like ... that. — Amelia C. Gormley

We're not on a journey to a goal, the goal is with us changing with us. — Antony Gormley

Maybe this is a utopian view of art but I do believe that art can function as a vehicle, that it isn't just a cultural pursuit, something that happens in art galleries. Unless art is linked to experience and the fear and joy of that, it becomes mere icing on the cake. — Antony Gormley

Whatever happened after, even the loss, my life would be less if I had not had that. On the day I die, my only regret would be if I hadn't had it. If I had been too much a coward to take it while I had a chance. — Amelia C. Gormley

Yeah, well there's your first problem. You don't get it. You can't even see what you did. You're going to sit here today and you're going to convince yourself that you were right and I was unreasonable and you won't even think about what you just tried to make me into. But hey ... It's not my problem, now. You think what you want. I'm gone."
He sighed and reached for my suitcase. "Will you at least let me help you down the stairs?"
"Fuck off." I'd rather break my neck than let him give me a second of assistance.
"Topher, come on!" Now he sounded annoyed and seriously, fuck him, he didn't get to be pissy over this. I turned around and gave him a withering look.
"Be sure you clear the lube out of the bedside table before you bang your wife in that room. It's a dead giveaway. — Amelia C. Gormley

Of course, to my utter mortification, he looked amused. I half-expected him to start golf clapping.
Ooh, epic bitch fit! I give it five stars. Haven't seen one that good in forever, and I live in a town full of queens, so that's saying something. Now, if you've got that out of your system, sit your ass down and let's talk. — Amelia C. Gormley

Well, I guess I don't say much, unless I've got something to say. Makes me not a lot of fun at parties. I'm really not great with small talk."
Gavin shrugged. "A lot of people feel like they have to fill every silence with noise, no matter how meaningless. I think it's interesting to find someone who isn't afraid of a little quiet. — Amelia C. Gormley

Good thing about hanging out with a pregnant woman: designated driver by default. — Amelia C. Gormley

I have to say that I reject somewhat the distinction between something called art and something called public art. I think all art demands and desires to be seen. — Antony Gormley

Oh, what? So, because I'm not going to leave my wife for you, I don't even qualify as bisexual?"

"You could, but you're not." The only thing that kept me from trying to outpace him again was the crowd and the fact that I was afraid someone would overhear.

"And just why is that?"

"Because to call a spineless, wishy-washy closet case like you 'bi' would be an insult to bifolk everywhere." I shook my head in disgust. "You're a fucking stereotype, you know that? Bisexuals are fighting to get rid of the misperception of themselves as being greedy or on the fence, and here you are undoing all that. — Amelia C. Gormley

I know, but there were all those people there, and you just don't go around outing someone like that ... "
"Yeah, well you just don't go around fucking your best friend's dad either, you prick!" For a moment I thought she was going to hit me again, but she pulled it back. "That's a fucking convenient sense of ethics you've got going on there, girlfriend. — Amelia C. Gormley

I never asked you to take care of me! This? This is exactly what I didn't want. You promised me ... " I shook my head, my eyes burning as I turned my attention back to packing. I jerked the zipper of my suitcase so hard I'm surprised I didn't pull the damn tab off. "Let's be honest, hm? You're not trying to take care of me, you're trying to take care of you. You want to have your respectable, white-bread, married, straight family life as well as your faggy brown boy toy on the side, and seriously? Fuck that shit. I trusted you, Brendan! I trusted you to respect me enough not to pull something like this, not to try to keep me dangling along so you could have it both ways without giving up anything. — Amelia C. Gormley

I think it's probably the Dutch who are to blame for starting the whole 'art business', because before they came along, art was attached to relatively stable structures, and it was everybody's. It was like going to the movies. — Antony Gormley

So, okay. He was basically an amalgamation of every redheaded man to ever turn my crank (and how!). And he lived in a popular gay resort town, which meant the chances were above average that he might actually be interested. Watching him trot lightly down those stairs to the beach, I realized what my objective this summer would be.
Agent Carlisle, your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to find out which of these residences belongs to Mr. Strawberry-Blond Hunka Burnin' Love and convince him to do you on every horizontal surface - and against a few of the vertical ones. — Amelia C. Gormley

Art is not about objects of high monetary exchange. It's about reasserting our firsthand experience in present time. — Antony Gormley