Land art or Earth art is a type of movement that involves the use of a natural landscape or natural materials to create works of art. These materials can be found in nature and include soil, rock, plants, leaves, wood, water, minerals, and clay.
This British sculptor, Andy Goldsworthy is the son of a mathematician, he renowned in his field, which creates temporary landscape art installations out of sticks and stones, and everything else that he finds outside. He grew up working on farms before eventually getting his BA from what is now the University of Central Lancashire. “A lot of my earth art is like picking potatoes. You have to get into the rhythm of it,” he told the Guardian.
Goldsworthy’s land art is transient and ephemeral, leading many to view it as a comment on the Earth’s fragility. But for Goldsworthy, the picture is more complicated. “When I make something, in a field, street or altering the landscape, it may vanish, but it’s part of the history of those places. In the early days, my work was about collapse and decay. Now some of the changes that occur are too beautiful to be described as simply decay. At Folkestone, I got up early one morning ahead of an incoming tide and covered a boulder in poppy petals. It was calm, and the sea slowly and gently washed away the petals, stripping the boulder and creating splashes of red in the sea. The harbor from which many troops left for war was in the background.”
Below you can see Andy Goldsworthy’s art; it sure is one of a kind, beautiful for its short-timed qualities and absolutely unique art.
More info: Amazon | goldsworthy.cc.gla.ac.uk
