Sculptor Gormley seeks nudes

The exhibition will open in May at the Baltic

Sculptor Antony Gormley will use 240 models for a nude sitting for his next exhibition in Britain.

The models will be wrapped in clingfilm and then have plastercasts made of their bodies, which will be turned into sculptures for Gateshead's Baltic Art Centre.

Audition for the castings will be held at the gallery later this month.

The casts will then be turned into moulds and used to make dozens of sculpted figures made with stainless steel rods.

Most people so far have loved the experience

Gallery spokeswoman

The sculptures will cover a 880 square-metre level and the exhibition starts on 17 May and ends on 25 August.

Gormley, who is best known for his Angel Of The North sculpture above Gateshead, and for the terracotta installation Field For The British Isles, recently at the British Museum in London.

The new exhibition will be called Domain Field, and will cost about £400,000.

The nude casting will be done at the gallery during public opening hours.

The castings will be done in stages, with separate sessions for the torso, legs and head.

The casting will take between two and four hours to complete.

Antony Gormley is also taking a terracotta exhibition to China

More tha 70 people have so far taken application forms for the casting.

The forms ask applicants to give details of their height and weight.

Trial castings took place before Christmas and included some of the Baltic's staff.

A spokeswoman for the centre said the sculptures would be made on site, as the Baltic regarded itself as an "art factory".

'Spiritual experience'

The public will be able to watch the metal figures' bodyparts being welded together - though the nude casting sessions will be private.

"People are doing it for the love of it. Antony sees it as a spiritual experience it, almost like a rebirth," she said.

"Most people so far have loved the experience. They've felt revitalised by it."

Those taking part in the trial casting were asked to adopt a relaxed pose, and the spokeswoman said it had resulted in some strange poses.

"It's going to be great for them to wander around and recognise themselves."

The exhibition's press day, meanwhile, will be attended by art critic Brian Sewell, who last week complained too much top quality art was being show outside of London and missing the capital.

Art lovers in Newcastle have invited Sewell up and, it is believed, want to take the London-loving critic around their city to show the north's cultural heritage.