''Brick Man'' was an

Antony Gormley Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the ''Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another Pla ...

sculpture proposed in the 1980s for the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. A male human figure standing over 100 feet (30 m) high, it would have stood on a triangle of land bounded by railway lines in the

Holbeck Holbeck is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins on the southern edge of Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 postcode district. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is the o ...

area of the city, greeting travellers arriving at Leeds railway station. It would have cost £600,000 and been the largest sculpture in the UK at the time. The sculpture was one of twenty designs produced in response to a competition to find an artwork for the site, but the proposal was ultimately rejected by Leeds City Council in 1988. Conservative councillor Richard Hughes-Rowlands said at the time: "If Mr Gormley is talking about it 'Brick Man''going somewhere else, my eyes won't exactly be weeping tears." Gormley has blamed "lack of nerve" for the rejection of his idea, adding: "I think of it still as my best attempt to allude to the collective body." The idea of an iconic landmark sculpture of the human form later saw the light of day in Gormley's '' Angel of the North''. A maquette for the sculpture can be seen in Leeds City Art Gallery.

References

{{Antony Gormley Sculptures by Antony Gormley Buildings and structures in Leeds Outdoor sculptures in England