DOUBT ARRIVES AT WELLS CATHEDRAL

Church_news

A giant sculpture named 'DOUBT' will be installed on the West Front of Wells Cathedral on 26 August. The new work is by British sculptor Sir Antony Gormley and is on loan to Wells for 18 months.

The West Front is made from local stone and over the centuries, weathering and damage has affected the statues, resulting in a number of vacant niches. It is one of these, Niche 338, which will be occupied by Gormley’s sculpture.

Sir Antony (see photo) said: "I am very aware of the paradox of placing an object called DOUBT on the facade of a building devoted to belief. But it seems to me that doubting, interrogating, questioning, are all part of belief.

"For me, doubt can be a positive force and the imaginative engine of future possibility. I am interested in conversations in and about time - and in art as a continuum that bring history to now.

"I have chosen this niche outside Wells Cathedral for its exposed position and visibility: the book at the end of the bookshelf."

He added: "I see DOUBT as an attempt to invoke a feeling of being isolated and exposed on the corner of a Gothic masterpiece.

"In the context of an 800-year-old celebration of hierarchy, I wish to make a space for a contemporary state of mind."