Nazca lines

In the Nazka desert (in southern Peru) there are geoglyphs of Nazca also called « Nazca Lines » are a series of geometric lines which make some shapes, more exactly animal figures. Some archeologists have study about this subject and there was research to see how these lines were realized. These figures are representing animals like spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks, orcas, llamas, and lizards.

There is a lot of debate about the lines, some people have the theory that they were created for the gods to look upon them from above, while others suggest they were sort of calendar with astronomical alignments that would allow to carry plantations and crops.

Photos by the archeologist Maria Reiche(1953)

(Associated links : Wikipedia )

N.I.

Walter De Maria

Walter De Maria was born in 1935 in California. This American artist went to Berkelely University and graduated with a specialisation in Art. The question of the environment worry about the futur of the land. That’s way this concept is also call Earthworks.

Also this structure demonstrates that the audience (the public) can’t possess, buy or see a Land Art work unless they are there at the right place at the right time.

Its values changed.

Ligne dans le desert de Tula, Walter de Maria, Nevada, 1969.

F.A.

Dennis Oppenheim

Dennis Oppenheim is an American from Washington’ State. He was born in 1938.He travel a lot and made exhibition around the world after have been an art student.  He is a part of the Land Art for his investigation about ephemeral art. For example with this  » Annual Ring « , a monumental installation in circular draw witch desaper when the snow melt down.

 » Annual Ring  »
North of Maine’ State, border of United Stats and Canada, 1968.

We can notice « Whirlpool » a work witch goes on the same way of a temporary, suppose to disappear.

Only the photographic representation can prouve it.

"Whirlpool (Eye of the Storm)", California, United State, 1973. Dennis Oppenheim.

F.A.

Nils Udo

Colorado, United States, 1978.

Nils Udo is a German artist, born in 1937. He studied Graphic Art in Nuremburg and came closer to nature through his research, this gaining his place in the Land Art movement. In 1960, he left Germany for Paris to continue his work.
His work references the ideas of a direct link between ancient Man and contemporary Art. The idea of a return to the origins of humanity and the person can be seen in the circular forms that make us think of the embryo and the cocoon, such as in his work called ‘Le Nid’.

F. A.

Robert Smithson

Robert Smithson (born in 1973) is an American contemporary artist and sculptor of minimal art. He studied painting and drawing but specialises in Land Art, and has even contributed theoretical works on the subject, among whose number there are writings on Earthworks, Sculpture, Drawings, Photography and Film. His polymath approach is necessary for the representation of the works themselves. The intrinsic nature of Landart renders it ephemeral to the point where the artists must undertake photography, film and writing to share these ideas with their audience over and above the basic minimum of the construction of the pieces.

F. A.

The famous Christo (and Jeanne Claude)

(Associated links : Wikipedia)

A link here to view an extract from a film by Antonio Ferrera in 2010.

Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (born in 1935) is a Bulgarian artist, his wife, artist and collaborator was Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935-2009). They have made Land Art projects, including their wrapping works. Their aim  is simply to create works of art and create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes, to have a different perspective on them, to enhance them.

In 1984  Jacques Chirac ended to accept their project so the couple had the permission to wrap the Pont-Neuf in Paris. For the wrapping of the oldest bridge in Paris, they used 40,000 m²  sand-colored polyamide.

It’s very interesting to see the connection between two crafts, the bridge and the « packaging » realised by Christo and his wife. Other examples include the Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin and a work where the pair wrapped trees in switzerland.

N.I.

Burning Man’s Land Art

Burning Man is an American music festival that brings Land Art to the Nevada desert. Visitors create sculptures just before the event begins (you can view these on the official Burning Man website). All artworks are created in keeping with the desert’s natural landscape and can be registered on the website, but they must be made with one proviso: LEAVE NO TRACE, so as to preserve the desert itself.

 

 

 

 

 

This picture is an aerial view of Burning Man’s camp, which is organised like an amphitheater with the Man at its center every year! The arrangement of tents in circular formation creates a Land Art piece which gravitates around the central ‘Playa’ which is itself punctuated by sculptures made by the festival’s yearly pilgrammage.

N.I.