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September 11, 2005
The Art of Andy Goldsworthy
If you ever have the chance, go to the Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, New York, about 60 or 70 miles north of the city. It is an outdoor sculpture museum situated on a few hundred acres of impossibly green, rolling hills. The first time I went to Storm King was also the first time that I was exposed to Andy Goldsworthy. I was walking along a concrete path through a giant green field lined with woods and, out of nowhere, a curving, three foot tall, snake-like wall made of stones cut across the pathway leaving me with the option of climbing over the wall and continuing down the concrete path, or following the wall which slinked across the field and into the woods. I, of course, followed the wall. It weaved in and out of the trees and led me to a few clearings filled with other small exhibitions, and then it disappeared into a large pond, resurfaced on the other side, and kept going, for half a mile. This, I would find out, is the infamous Storm King Wall by the Scottish sculptor and photographer Andy Goldsworthy who constructed the wall over the course of two years using found rock from the Art Center's property.
In truly synchronistic fashion, when I flew back to Chattanooga a few days later there was a short documentary about Goldsworthy playing on the plane. I learned that all of his work is made of found natural materials -- river stones, sticks, leaves, pebbles, ice, water, acorns, etc. -- and that most of his work is very delicate, many pieces lasting only minutes before they melt, or are blown or washed away. Here are some examples of his sculpture/photography:
and his biography from Wikipedia:
Andy Goldsworthy (born Cheshire, England, 1956) is a British artist and photographer living in Scotland who produces site specific sculpture and land art situated in natural settings. His art involves the use of natural and found objects to create temporary sculptural pieces which both appear naturalistic and create stark contrasts with their surroundings. He works closely with form and color contrasts to produce works that are both striking and ephemeral.
His media often include twigs, thorns, muds, snow, icicles, brightly colored flowers and leaves. He often uses only his bare hands and found tools, although more recent works like the Moonlit Path and Chalk Stones (Petworth, West Sussex - 2002) have also used heavy machinery.
His work process is both obsessive and opportunistic. He is preoccupied with the inevitable destruction of his sculptures by elemental forces, as was highlighted in the Midsummer Snowballs (Midsummer's Day, 2000 - various locations in London, England) where the destruction of the piece was almost the whole point. He seems to prefer works that exist only extremely briefly or whose continued coherence is highly uncertain. Many of his pieces collapse during construction and he often rebuilds them several times before he is able to photograph them in completion.
The documentary movie Rivers and Tides (2001, by Thomas Riedelsheimer) shows his work in action and some of the pieces he has created. "Working with Time" is not only the subtitle to Riedelsheimer's film, but also describes the aim of many land artists (for example Richard Long or Christo and Jeanne-Claude, although they rather prefer not to be called "land art") to show the process of nature and thus to work with time.
Normally Goldsworthy captures his works with photography, but the 2001 film Rivers And Tides in some senses captures his understanding of nature and time better than still photography, because one is able to follow the process of creation and destruction. The film delivers insight into the way Goldsworthy works and finds his inspiration. "I want to understand the stone" is a quote by him which inspired Riedelsheimer to make his film: It describes Goldsworthy's ambitions to find the uttermost meaning behind every object in nature.
Goldsworthy is close to and bound to nature. If the wind changes, if the tide rises, if it rains, his art changes. Sometimes it develops, and sometimes it is destroyed.
| By Joshua Daniels | 2:37 PM