Crosby beach iron men get new kits

Crosby beach iron men get new kits NEWS

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A couple of British sculptor Antony Gormley's iron men dotted across Crosby beach in Merseyside have been given a bright and woolly makeover by a New York knitwear artist.

Two of Gormley's life-size human sculptures from his Another Place series have been dressed in head-to-toe crocheted outfits. One figure clad in pink, purple and green with the other in white, grey and black, the iron men were dressed by New York-based knitwear artist Olek.

The figures are usually stood on the beach wearing nothing but barnacles, their 'skin' rusted from the sea's tide.

Polish-born artist Agata Oleksiak, known simply as Olek, said her outfits for the sculptures were 'transforming old into new', going on to say that it is Gormley's most successful installation but that, due to the length of time they have been on the beach, people have stopped paying attention to them.

'By covering them and giving them a new skin, I made them more alive... besides, it is a public work and needs an interaction with a viewer,' Olek added.

Turned Prize winner Gormley installed 100 of the figures in 2005 and they have remained along the two-mile stretch of the beach.

'I feel that barnacles provide the best cover-up, but this is very impressive substitute!' Gormley said upon finding out that his figures had received new outfits.

New York resident Olek is well known in America for her guerilla antics, having previously covered the Wall Street bull in New York with a knitwear suit. She has covered numerous things of a grand scale in her colourful knitwear.

Olek said she had hoped to dress all of the figures, however she was only in the Liverpool area for one night due to touring across the UK in a 'crocheted taxi'.