Andy Goldsworthy is a land artist. The materials he used to create his works are usually the things from nature. For example: snow, ice, leaves, stones, branches etc. Andy Goldsworthy’s works are highly site-specific and most of them only existed for a short period of time. Works made of ice could not sustain after the winter and works made of flowers or leaves would eventually decompose and disappeared. Hence, we can only admire the beauty of his works through photographs.
His works are also created as a response to the changes on the earth like time, weather, nature, growth etc
“Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. Nature is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding. I want my art to be sensitive and alert to changes in material, season and weather. Each work grows, stays, decays. Process and decay are implicit. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature.” – Andy Goldsworthy
Questions and answer
1) “People do not realise that many of my works are done in urban places. I was brought up on the edge of Leeds, five miles from the city centre-on one side were fields and on the other, the city”. – Andy Goldsworthy. Uses the quote given above to find, describe and analyse a piece of Andy Goldsworthy’s works that would ‘fit’ in Singapore.
Rowan Leaves & Hole
This is one of my favourite artwork by Andy Goldsworthy. It was made in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Bretton on October 25th, 1987. England. One might easily mistake it as a painting from the first look at the photo; however, this is indeed a photo taken from Andy Goldsworthy’s sculpture work.
The work is extremely eye-catching due the strong colour contrast between the leaves and the hole. Andy Goldsworthy had deliberately selected those bright yellow rowan leaves to surround the black colour hole. There is a gradual increase in the colour intensity from bright yellow to dark red. The colour is extremely well blended and created a strong visual impact to the viewers. The arrangement of the leaves is also well organised and formed a perfect spinning circle. Overall, the photo reminds me of eclipse.
I personally feel that this work would be able to fit in Singapore. Singapore is a tropical climate country; it has a wide variety of plants species. However, due to the rapid urbanisation, the island has lost up to 95% of its plant species. The process of the leaves decomposing could symbolise the lost of nature in the country. The black hole could symbolise ‘urbanisation’ and it is sacking in everything from the surrounding.
2) Discuss this work in relation to another named work by another artist that operates in a similar way
Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty
Robert Smithson is a famous America land artist. Like Andy Goldsworthy, Robert Smithson also made use of the materials found in nature for his art works. The Spiral Jetty was made of black basalt rocks and earth from the site, the artist created a coil 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide that stretches out counter-clockwise into the translucent red water.
Unlike Andy’s Rowan Leaves & Hole, spiral Jetty was a huge project involved massive manpower and resources, it still exists until today. However, the primary concept behind both works is the same; they all aim to discover the beauty of nature and the power of nature on the works. Andy’s Rowan Leaves & Hole had disappeared shortly after it was built as the leaves decomposed and vanished into the soil. On the other hand, Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty has been submerged by the rising sea level numerous times during the past one century. The colour of the black basalt rocks has changed into white and pink due to salt encrustation.
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