andy goldsworthy

i saw this movie called rivers and tides about this scottish guy named andy goldsworthy http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2005/goldsworthy/images/goldsworthy_vrfs.jpg
who makes art very much inspired by those rock walls one may see all over europe. http://rolu.terapad.com/resources/648/assets/goldsworthy3.jpg
also he makes these eggs.
http://materialsproject.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/452px-goldsworthy-cone-sculpture1.jpg
discuss

and stuff like this made out of leaves
http://alluu.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/andy_goldsworthy_rowan_leaves_with_hole1.jpg

this dude prolly says it better than me

i always think of andy goldsworthy as being the kind of sucky missing the point end of land art but my friend who knows more abt it than me says im dead wrong so

kinda love this guy

i mean like what point is he missing? i am simple, but making transient pretty stuff in the woods is a point i can get behind

technically amazing but a lot of the time he does too much ("missing the point end of land art" you could say) and often it's simply just too pretty. he seems like a good guy and his work is impressive.

i guess i can get the 'too pretty' thing

yeah but he comes after hamish fulton and richard long and they're gallery stuff also sucks but they pretty much did "drawings" by going for ridic long walks. it is this weird eco-conceptualism that is weirdly hung up on hyper formalism and is super awesome, this is still just making stuff but now ur doing it in a woods for some reason, it seems pretty conservative and dumb 2 me but i guess i have a pretty austere outlook on shit like this

They have a wall of his at Storm King

also i have no problem with prettiness in any way but its just that it is pretty in this way that doesn't reference itself or notice itself and it feels kinda dumb even if that isn't fair

Yeah I was thinking I knew this guy but I was thinking about Richard Long.

long did installations in the landscape itself too, of course, it's just that it seems more elemental. everything long did (does?) could actually, physically, be done by anyone.

xpost

maybe it's the prettiness combined with the tricksiness of a lot of it which is offputting. still, i think he's good and good to have around.

I saw Rivers and Tide, and dug Goldsworthy and his art very much.

Rivers and Tides, rather.

like there's series of work richard long does where he goes for a walk that is approx a circle and he presents it as a drawing where he traces the circle back onto a map, in a way he draws this parallel between the arduous trek and the traced line and that they're all ways of making marks and its really beautifully mutual, just as the line drawing is pointless unless its backed up by the walking, in a way the drawing reinscribes the walk with a formal value and is weirdly reverential, i think, for process art, of simple acts and geometric shapes

i did not know about richard long! thx

hamish fulton is also awesome gbx but weirdly similar

http://www.richardlong.org/images/3.jpg

walking a line in Peru.

the documentary is real nice and he does seem a good guy, like this old artisan tradesman who has more questions than answers; he's kinda fumbling with what he goes out every day and does with his hands, can't quite put any of it into words. his approach is real honest. maybe the documentary stands out a little in showing the guy's totally ordinary homelife, removing the idea of revered genius from an artist bio.

hey now, don't forget OG Robert Smithson:

http://organicharp.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/spiral_jetty_wisps.jpg

yeah omg i love those

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00180/England_180110s.jpg

this has been on my wall for like a year now!

i want to see this doc.

i think it's a bit sad to set one up against the other since one is a kind of visionary and the other is a superb "artisan tradesman" and both of those things are impressive.

but still, this:

http://www.richardlong.org/images/26.gif

another person that goldsworthy reminds me of a lot is maya lin, most famous for the vietnam memorial in dc, but mainly the stuff she did for a recent show at pace wildenstein

http://www.pacewildenstein.com/Exhibitions/ViewExhibition.aspx?artist=MayaLin&title=MayaLin%3aThreeWaysofLookingattheEarth&type=Exhbition&guid=d4f70ce9-1fd9-43f6-878f-2e7f6cec1e2f

a lot of the goldsworthy stuff has more in common with anish kapoor than long.

love that maya lin installation.

wolfgang laib?

rivers and tides is a very soothing and lovely film.

oh i did some powder/pigment square things just like those at uni but i've never heard of laib 'til now i don't think.

it was fun to see that maya lin in person

goldsworthy as well, seeing his work in its physical space, walking around it, getting a better sense of how it fits into context spatially and geographically, it made me like his work so much more. and i was a fan from the movie.

'too pretty' i don't get

hey wow good job guys!
now i have to look up a bunch of other artists that you mentioned

wtf ILE this guys been around for a looooooong time. love him

WTF

what the--!

can't believe we're all sitting here talking about some old guy.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v472/birdnestsoup/wtf.jpg

you should only talk about new things

WHAT THE HECK

kinda agree with ikr but what do i know. i like the smithson stuff though, this is just a little boringer.

once i was at a rly boring party and was drunk and a guy said he liked andy goldsworthy and he's the best artist. i was like that guy SUCKS! i didn't really mean it at first but i changed my mind after he basically said my opinion was invalid bc he was a photo major (?). oh lol. i will always remember that when i think of land art.

Goldsworthy's work is superficially appealing, what I find a bit off-puting about it is that he makes photographs more than artwork in a lot of cases, like I get the sense he doesn't do any of this shit when he's just out taking a walk but only with a camera crew in tow. Doesn't hit the insane permanence of Michael Heizer but he doesn't seem play with the idea of the temporary nature of his pieces like Christo.

doesnt he take the pictures himself?

who was it that did that weird jetty thing? I saw a film on it at the tate.

robert smithson, spiral jetty, in the salt lake i guess. 1970. anyway when I finally saw Rivers and Tides it reminded me of that. Anyway I like all of this stuff.

oh that is a picture of it right up there, i am dumb

its so weird, robert smithson is like a HERO AND LEGEND to a lot of ppl i know, its funny remembering that this isnt the same 4 everyone

He doesn't seem play with the idea of the temporary nature of his pieces

Wha? That's basically his whole deal!

yah but only in the way ppl don't leave lawn ornaments up 4e imo

smh

He's done loads of stuff with ice, which, y'know, impermanance and stuff.

I find a lot of what Goldsworthy does beautiful; that's enough for me to like him and his work.

He did some stuff near here - made these huge round balls out of the local chalk iirc and left them to disintegrate in the elements.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3652/3292459339_3f13783230.jpg?v=0

Not really all that striking imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TWBSMc47bw

epic

this is on netflix!!!! online!!!

~watches~

Making temporary works isn't the same as actively engaging with the issues behind the natural decay and temporary nature of the works - after 40+ years of practice and critical thinking in the land art field, he's not exactly adding anything to the conversation. He's more craftsman than artist, and were he not branded as an artist I think he'd agree.

andy goldsworthy is a fuckin' druid-ass earth mage and highly underrated photographer

he's got a super-minor piece in SF that justifies the de Young's existence all by itself. i'm not sure what he's supposed to add to the conversation at this point - he's said his piece and it's not as though he got into what he does for the awesome cocktail parties. the work is profound. religious, even. though they come at it from different directions i see him sharing a lot with serra. re-enchantment of spaces, jars in tennessee and all that.

roger otm

the doc is great. there is a nice part where his wife is like 'what'er u gonna do today?' and he gives her a look like u know what i do how i work but i get that ur askin cuz of the cameras they are unnatural arent they? so here goes "im an intuitive artist blah blah blah.."

though they come at it from different directions i see him sharing a lot with serra.

I don't think they have much in common - Serra's work is experiential in nature whereas Goldsworthy's is sculptural and photographic. There's a sense of modification of space and an ability to inhabit Serra's pieces that's present in very few of Goldsworthy's works, even the single largest sculptural piece of his I've seen in person doesn't really leave the viewer a good way to experience it.

There is an "oh that's neat!" aspect to his work and I appreciate that he works with many different materials, but ultimately his work is about showcasing man's dominion over nature rather than nature itself like in James Turrell or Walter De Maria's work.

this thread is v informative! thx dudes

I DIED, i agree (obv!) that their praxis is very different. almost neatly opposed if you want it to be. but the ethos is the same - to find or produce a crack (in the earth, the sky, the horizon) through which can be perceived another world behind the one you knew.

i disagree with the reading that goldsworthy's work "is about" "showcasing man's dominion over nature." If anything, nearly the opposite. his work thrusts into relief, and grapples with, the between the "nature" we perceive, mediated by sense and sensibility, and the unknowable absolute that exists outside of perception, exists without you.

(side note that i was definitely thinking of serra in re the anecdote of the jar. also that i am 80% serious that goldsworthy is descended from the little folk known to live under the hills in that part of the world iirc)

("the same" is probably too strong - more like different trees with a shared root system)

man, ILX makin' me think today ps i am vv hung over

many threads i start go nowhere, but this one is going somewhere. or went somewhere.

Any recommendations on Goldsworthy books?

(Also, do carry on the conversation about whether he is any good or not).

when i was younger a lot of my friends were into goldsworthy and i was snobbish about it, accused him of gilding the lily etc. now i have lightened up and can enjoy stuff that's "just pretty".

i can't recommend a goldsworthy book but i recently picked phaidon's "themes and movements" set for a song, and when i cracked open the "land and environmental art" survey (edited by jeffrey kastner) i was surprised that the first thing i saw was goldsworthy. perhaps it's telling though that there's no real discussion of his work, just a few pictures and a brief note that his work draws attention to the beauty and ephemerality of nature. i guess that's the worst you can say about him, that there's not really that much to say about him. which jed noted in fewer words upthread. btw though this "land and environmental art" book is just great.

ultimately his work is about showcasing man's dominion over nature rather than nature itself

― I DIED, Saturday, January 9, 2010 8:02 PM (6 years ago

this is the essence of my gilding the lily complaint

i also think his works are, to some extent, a documentation of an exercise of patience and dexterity that's well out of my range as a human, so it's somewhat impressive on that level, as a feat of human athleticism to be admired. i think there should be space in "the art world" for that sort of thing.

wtf ILE this guys been around for a looooooong time. love him

― larry craig memorial gloryhole (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, January 9, 2010 12:48 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea totally, he is an amazing artist

ultimately his work is about showcasing man's dominion over nature rather than nature itself

― I DIED, Saturday, January 9, 2010 8:02 PM (6 years ago

eh i don;t think thats really true

so many of his works achieve just a brief transitory glimpse of control over nature (captured in a photograph, sure) which is then quickly lost and that is part of the point

btw "andy goldsworthy: a collaboration with nature" is the book i have and it is spectacular

and yea i do think "collaboration with nature" is way more accurate than "control (or dominion) over nature"

parts of that book describe some failed attempts and are very interesting

some of his standing works invite interaction with the audience, or at least facilitate it
http://dsmpublicartfoundation.org/public-artwork/three-cairns/

not the best examples but a random sampling here in #2
http://www.desmoinesartcenter.org/blog/general/top-10-instagram-2015

I just recently watched the second Goldsworthy documentary film, Leaning Into the Wind, made in 2018 by Thomas Riedelsheimer, who also directed Rivers and Tides in 2001.
When I saw the latter more than a decade ago, part of its appeal was how he had managed to make a living and a life in the larger world out of what was portrayed as a very personal mode of relating and working with nature. In the more recent film, he's 17 years older, and while he still seems physically and artistically vital, his practise seems to be more of a way of life, almost private in its significance. I know he's a successful professional artist with commissions and works around the world, but what comes across is his relation with the natural world through his body and everyday actions.
The message of Leaning Into the Wind for me was a reminder that we don't need to be creating art in any institutionally recognized way to derive creative pleasure of "art" from the world around us.