Richard Long is an English sculptor, photographer and painter, one of the best known British land artists. He has won the Turner Prize four times, not to mention his refusal of the prize in 1984. He won the award in 1989 for his work White Water Line.
Using archetypal shapes (mostly circles, lines, crosses and spirals) is a hallmark of the artist’s body of work. There is in Long’s artworks a connotation with ancient monuments. His work is not just a connection of simple geometric structures with organic elements, but a breaking of cultural and generational boundaries:
‘I think circles have belonged in some way or other to all people at all times. They are universal and timeless, like the image of a human hand. For me, that is part of their emotional power, although there is nothing symbolic or mystical in my work.’ – Richard Long.
Nancy Holt (born April , 1938) is an Amercian artist famous for her sculptures, installations and Land art. During her career, Holt has also produced works in other mediums, including film, photography, and writing.
Land art emerged in the 1960s, coinciding with a growing ecology movement in the United States, which asked people to become more aware of the negative impact they had on the natural environment.
Land art changed views on art; because it breaks with the classical conception of the gallery or museum format. This art includes elements from the environment and due to its nature has an intergral ephemerality. Unlike much of commercial art, land art could not be bought or sold on the art market, and in its efforts changed the meaning of art and the way it was portrayed globally.
It’s important to know the meaning of each of Land Art’s works; for example Holt’s works of art often deal with issues of how people perceive time and space. Her monumental work completes the environment. Works such as Hydra’s Head is created to be harmonious with the land and not just to stand on it. The pools in this work are at the top of concrete tubes imbedded in the ground. The land already at the site surrounds these pools. They reflect the natural landscape, while not disturbing it. Holt thinks about human scale in relation to the work she creates.People can interact with the works and become more aware of space, of their own visual perception, and of the order of the universe.Holt’s works incorporate the passage of time and also function to keep time. For example, Annual Ring functions so that when sunlight falls through the hole in the dome and fits perfectly into a ring on the ground, it is solar noon in the summer soltice. At different times, the sun falls differently on the work and other holes in the dome align with celestial occurrences. Holt has said that she is concerned with making art that not only makes an impact visually, but is also functional and necessary in society,as seen in works like Sky Mound, which serves a dual function as a sculpture and park and also generates alternative energy.
The goal of this article is to share to all of you some links about Land Art. Some blogs already exist about this form of art, but our chief aim is to provide a brief sumary of key works to make them more accessible. We also want to try to create a blog where Land Art from all over the world can be examined, to create a map of the movement from its origins to the present day.
Andy Goldsworthy (born 26 July 1956) is a british sculptor, photographer and environmentalist producing site-specific sculpture and Land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland. The materials used in Andy Goldsworthy’s art often include brightly-coloured flowers, leaves, mud, pinecones, snow, stone, twigs and thorns. He has been quoted as saying, « I think it’s incredibly brave to be working with flowers and leaves and petals. But I have to: I can’t edit the materials I work with. »
Photography plays a crucial role in his art due to its often ephemeral and transient nature. According to Goldsworthy, « Each work grows, stays, decays – integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. »
You can see here an extract of a movie called « River and Tides – Working with Time » (traduit « Le Fleuve et la marée – Travailler avec le temps » en français) about Andy Godsworthy, produced by Thomas Riedelsheimer.
The Land Art 