Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Topic:
Critically analyse the work of 4 major artists working loosely in the field of
Modern art set the foundations for the vast array of art works presented
Environmental art works and traditional art forms, it is the changes which
underpin the development of these works that show the most remarkable
shift.
marked the first environmental art work (which could debatably date back
exhibitions were held in this year1. This was around the same time as
more political and sociological stance: ‘many artists and critics treat
conditions like desire or disease ... as sites for art’3, and from this point art
was able to make a departure from, ironically, the traditional art object.
She postulates that sculpture became abstracted from its relationship with
the idea of the monument in the 19th century, and was no longer
2 Foster, Hal. The return of the real: the avant-garde at the end of the century. Mass:
Cambridge, 1996. p.184
3 Hopkins, David. After modern art 1945-2000. Oxford, 2000. P.178
4 Krauss, Rosalind. “Sculpture in the Expanded Field.” October 8 (Spring 1979): p.31-44.
5 ibid.
6 ibid.
7 ibid.
8 ibid.
demonstrates how these theories and philosophies have been built upon
and extended. However while Foster and Krauss both look at the changes
based and site specific, from a cross section of dates, the continuing
art forms.
upon an earlier work from 1966. While 1970 marked Hans Haacke’s move
life, involving living natural materials like plants and animals. Grass Grows
involved allowing grass seeds to germinate and grow from a small mound
9 Hans Haacke, Hans Haacke, unfinished business (New York ;Cambridge Mass.: New Museum of
Contemporary Art ;MIT Press, 1986). p.7
10 Stangos, Nikos. Concepts of modern art : from fauvism to postmodernism. 3rd ed. New York N.Y.:
Thames and Hudson, 1994.p.42
11 Stangos, Nikos. Concepts of modern art : from fauvism to postmodernism. 3rd ed. New York N.Y.:
Thames and Hudson, 1994.p.42
stated12
early example of issues that would later be explored in more fully developed
ecological artworks.
political based art, his work has remained strongly conceptual and in
contrast to many artist who moved their works out of the gallery space,
spiky grass has been seeded. The mound itself is unassuming and if
perhaps, of its formal symmetry), however in the gallery space the mound
12 Kastner, Jeffrey. Land and environmental art. London: Phaidon Press, 2005. P.32
13 Stangos, Nikos. loc. cit. Concepts of modern art : from fauvism to postmodernism. 3rd ed. New York
N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1994.p.42
14 Kastner, Jeffrey. op. cit. Land and environmental art. London: Phaidon Press, 2005 .p138
context forces the viewer to consider the mound and what it means. While
In its simplicity, Grass Grows eloquently sums up the artists concepts and
separated art from real life events’17 and strived to produce art which
also be argued that Haacke was reacting against some of the core tenets
language and can be seen in various Modernist artworks, for example the
works of De Stijl artists like Piet Mondrian, who began reducing the
15 Catherine Speck, “'Mechanical Ballets: light, motion and theatre' Kinetic Art, op art and happenings”
(Lecture, University of Adelaide, October 6, 2009).
16 Stangos, Nikos. Concepts of modern art : from fauvism to postmodernism. 3rd ed. New
York N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1994. P.265
17 Krug, Don, and Jennifer Siegenthaler. “Changing Views About Art and the Earth.”
Greenmuseum.org, 2006. http://greenmuseum.org/c/aen/Earth/Changing/artist.php.
18 ibid http://greenmuseum.org/c/aen/Earth/Changing/artist.php
19 Stangos, Nikos. op. cit. p.42 Concepts of modern art : from fauvism to postmodernism. 3rd
ed. New York N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1994. P.42
While visually Grass Grows differs drastically from the Neo-plastic works of
Mondrian, it has still been reduced to its most basic elements in order to
work even though the industrial materials typical of Minimalist works are
not used22. Embodied in this work is the Minimalist belief that a work of art
machines would likely have been employed to make this work a reality,
of grass are not viewed as individual, but symbolic of the idea of a ‘blade
and he is one of the first noted identities of Environmental art. His earliest
environmental pieces were Mile Long Drawing and Cross in 196824, the
same year noted as the birth year of Environmental art as a genre due to
24 Tufnell, Ben. Land art. London ;New York: Tate, 2006. P.57
25 Tufnell, Ben. ibid p.12Land art. London ;New York: Tate, 2006. p.12
26 Kastner, Jeffrey. Land and environmental art. London: Phaidon Press, 2005.p.289
the rods ignite creating a vast net of visible electric charges27, which are
viewable from a small log cabin, located on site, a safe distance away28.
criteria for the works creation. It took 5 years for a suitable site to be
where the landscape plays an integral part as the site for the artwork to
described ‘The land is not the setting for the work but a part of the
work’30. At the core of the sculpture are the forces of nature, which are
places the artwork at the mercy of nature, as there are only approximately
60 days per year when thunder and lightning activity can potentially be
viewed from the lightening field, thus the viewer is not guaranteed to see
In Lightning Field the long, thin polls jut out of the earth over a vast
distance and are only properly visible during dawn and dusk when the
light hits the polls. Placed in a grid pattern at regular intervals, there is a
27 Kastner, Jeffrey. ibid Land and environmental art. London: Phaidon Press, 2005.
28 Hopkins, David. After modern art 1945-2000. Oxford, 2000. P.175
29 Kastner, Jeffrey. Land and environmental art. London: Phaidon Press, 2005.p232
30 Kastner, Jeffrey. ibid Land and environmental art. London: Phaidon Press, 2005.p232
31 Hopkins, David. After modern art 1945-2000. Oxford, 2000. P. 176
32 Kastner, Jeffrey. op. cit p.233Land and environmental art. London: Phaidon Press, 2005. P
233
scrub of the surrounding flat land and the strength of nature in the
lightening hit. The emotive quality of the poles alone is cold and
and Installation since the 1960’s33; however Lightning Field resonates with
the influences of the Dadaist’s. The integral, yet unpredictable part nature
ongoing, aesthetic, static art piece for the viewer to enjoy at leisure. This
has similarities in the Dadaist intent to produce art that moves against the
may have a practicality given certain metals are more conductive than
Lightning Field strikes a theoretical similarity with Kinetic Art and artists
33 Kastner, Jeffrey. ibid Land and environmental art. London: Phaidon Press, 2005.p.289
34 Stangos, Nikos. Concepts of modern art : from fauvism to postmodernism. 3rd ed. New
York N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1994. P. 113
35 Meecham, Pam. Modern art : a critical introduction. 2nd ed. London ;New York: Routledge,
2005. P.279
conditions. Both leave the artist in the position of the audience. The
where the artist was not apparent as the producer, to exist in today’s art
world.
materials36. The British avant-garde was, at the time, better known outside
Britain and as a result Goldsworthy drew his inspiration from the likes of
Yves Klein, Robert Smithson's’ Spiral Jetty from 1970 and by Joseph Beuys
36 Tufnell, Ben. Land art. London ;New York: Tate, 2006. p.81
37 Goldsworthy, Andy. Hand to earth : Andy Goldsworthy sculpture, 1976-1990. New York:
H.N. Abrams, 1993. P.13
forms, which are richly symbolic like holes, voids, circular patterns, spirals
and wandering lines39. While perhaps best known for his ephemeral works
wind and rain form pools in the folds of his earthworks, the sun and
only last for a few short moments (long enough to be documented), before
blowing or melting away. While these works are man-made, the materials
and Roger Fry in 1912-14. The focus was on process, line, colour, tone and
38 Tufnell, Ben. Land art. London ;New York: Tate, 2006. P.81
39 Tufnell, Ben. ibid p.82Land art. London ;New York: Tate, 2006. P.82
40 Goldsworthy, Andy. Hand to earth : Andy Goldsworthy sculpture, 1976-1990. New York:
H.N. Abrams, 1993. P.143
41 Goldsworthy, Andy. ibid. p.127 Hand to earth : Andy Goldsworthy sculpture, 1976-
1990. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1993. P.127
42 Meecham, Pam. Modern art : a critical introduction. 2nd ed. London ;New York: Routledge,
2005. pp.26-27
43 As quoted in Gott, Ted. Modern Britain 1900-1960. Melbourne Vic. ;Hove: National Gallery
The bold use of colour enriches works like Maple Leaves of 1991 or
Sumach Leaves laid around a hole of 1998, with an energy and vibrancy
Rothko viewed red tones as having energising properties44, and like other
element of performance, as it exists only for a short time and is often only
producing an artwork. Harold Rosenberg theorised that the work of art was
in the ‘act’ of producing the artwork itself, and relegated the end product
Pollock is viewed. While the painting does have formal qualities controlled
of Victoria 2008. P. 37
44 Catherine Speck, “Dystopias: Expressionism, 'primitivism', post World War II abstraction” (Lecture,
University of Adelaide, September 14, 2009).
45 Meecham, Pam. Modern art : a critical introduction. 2nd ed. London ;New York: Routledge,
2005. P238
into allow the production of an art work become an art form that no longer
However he did not see the Marcel Duchamp exhibition that toured
objects’49. For Darling, Minimalist art was ‘a jolt of self recognition’ and
which has suffered loss of habitat since the settlement of the area51, and
draw the viewer’s attention to the symbiotic link between human and
sayings52.
The Malleefowl Nests are made of interlocking mallee roots that were a
product of land clearing when Darling and his partner Lesley Forwood
moved into their farm, Duck Island in 197653. The production of these
nests carefully transformed these hard, irregular shaped roots into large
The larger than life nests are formed with gently sloping slides carefully
their colour, much in the camouflaged manner of the real nests. Their
presence in the gallery brings the fowls plight to the viewer, asking the
sloping lawn of the Art Gallery of South Australia. While its parallels with
actual Malleefowl nests are coincidental (as the nests can often be found
York and set a standard for him55. Judd’s work encompassed Darlings
concept of “wholeness”, as his art embraces the idea that mankind is not
54 Fenner, Felicity. ibid p.32 Handle with care : 2008 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.
Adelaide S. Aust.: Art Gallery of South Australia, 2008.p.32
55 Thomas, Daniel. James Darling : instinct, imagination, physical work. Kent Town S.
Aust.: Wakefield Press, 2001. p.17
56 Thomas, Daniel. ibid p.7 James Darling : instinct, imagination, physical work. Kent Town
S. Aust.: Wakefield Press, 2001. P.7
representation, each nest Darling, and his partner Lesley Forwood, build is
different nests reflecting different things about the fowls that created
them, varying in size and workmanship depending on the age of the fowl
at both human standing height and from the fowl’s 40cm standing
height57.
banal material for art production draws back to the artistic traditions of
non-art origins which are essentially refuse58. Arte Povera drew from the
that were announced as art, and forced the art world to re-think how they
conceived of the art object. Thus through the door opened by Duchamp
57 Thomas, Daniel. loc.cit. James Darling : instinct, imagination, physical work. Kent Town S.
Aust.: Wakefield Press, 2001. 17
58 Perry, Gill, and Paul Wood, eds. Themes in Contemporary Art. London: Yale University Press,
2004.p.243
59 Perry, Gill, and Paul Wood, ibid p.55 eds. Themes in Contemporary Art. London: Yale
University Press, 2004. P.55
While each work may have a variety of Modernist influences at play, from
between the conceptual questions that the artworks raise, the materials
create their respective artworks. Both Grass Grows and works like Sumach
Leaves laid around a hole are process driven. Goldsworthy focuses on his
symbolic shape or pattern, while Haacke uses the artworks own natural
seconds with the wind, while Haacke’s works could remain indefinitely.
materials are the legacy of the Modernist era, particularly in the ideas of
arte povera and pop that recontextualised the use of the non-art object
De Maria and Haacke both make use of natural processes which are
integral to their work. Nether work could exist without nature as it is the
natural processes which underpin the very function of the works as art
objects. Lightning Field would not exist without the lightning and Grass
Grows would not exist without growing grass. The establishment of Kinetic
art and the changes in philosophy of the role of the artists allowed these
influences and philosophies are far reaching and pervade throughout all of
Andy Goldsworthy. Walking the line. London: Thames and Hudson, 2002.
Ben Tufnell, Land art (London ;New York: Tate ;;Distributed in the U.S. by Harry N.
Abrams, 2006).
Danto, Arthur C. “The End of Art: A Philosophical Defence.” History and Theory 37, no.
4 (December 1998): 127-143.
Dickie, George. “What is Anti-Art?.” Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism 33, no. 4
(June 1975): 419. doi:Article.
Felicity Fenner, Handle with care : 2008 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art
(Adelaide S. Aust.: Art Gallery of South Australia, 2008).
Foster, Hal. The return of the real: the avant-garde at the end of the century.
Mass: Cambridge, 1996.
Gill Perry and Paul Wood, eds., Themes in Contemporary Art (London: Yale
University Press, 2004).
Goldsworthy, Andy, and Terry Friedman, eds. Hand to Earth. Leeds: W,S Maney and
Son Ltd, 1990.
Hal Foster, The return of the real: the avant-garde at the end of the century
(Mass: Cambridge, 1996).
Jeffrey Kastner, Land and environmental art (London: Phaidon Press, 2005).
Jones, Jen. “green movement..” Dance Spirit 12, no. 4 (April 2008): 60-64. doi:Article.
Lucie-Smith, Edward. Movements in Art Since 1945. World of Art. London: Thames
and Hudson, 2000.
Pam Meecham, Modern art : a critical introduction, 2nd ed. (London ;New York:
Routledge, 2005).
Perry, Gill, and Paul Wood, eds. Themes in Contemporary Art. London: Yale
University Press, 2004.
Richard Long, Walking the line (London: Thames and Hudson, 2002).
Rosalind Krauss, “Sculpture in the Expanded Field,” October 8 (Spring 1979): 31-
44.
Ted Gott, Modern Britain 1900-1960 (Melbourne Vic. ;Hove: National Gallery of
Victoria ;Roundhouse [distributor], 2008).