Gormley makes waves with beach statues of himself

The sight of naked men standing waist-high in Liverpool's freezing coastal waters has been known after an especially heavy night on the tiles. But nothing could quite prepare the local population for the figures which began showing up on the shoreline yesterday.

The sight of naked men standing waist-high in Liverpool's freezing coastal waters has been known after an especially heavy night on the tiles. But nothing could quite prepare the local population for the figures which began showing up on the shoreline yesterday.

By last night, about 15 life-size sculptures of naked men were in place off Crosby. They will joined shortly by a further 80, who together will form an artwork, Another Place,by Antony Gormley, creator of the Angel of the North sculpture at Gateshead.

Engineers had to cope with high winds and downpours as they began installing the cast-iron sculptures, taken from 17 moulds of Gormley's own body, to be placed at 250-metre intervals along 3kms (1.8 miles) of shoreline. Gormley spent an hour at the site, declaring the broad sweep of sand to be just what he was looking for. He said: "The seaside is a good place to do this. Here time is tested by tide, architecture by the elements and the prevalence of sky seems to question the Earth's substance. This sculpture exposes to light and time the nakedness of a particular and peculiar body."

The work has previously been installed in Belgium, Norway and Germany. It is expected to move to New York in November 2006.

The movement of local tides and daily weather conditions will dictate whether the figures - some of which stand 1km out to sea - are visible or submerged.