Part 4 - Environmental interventions research.

I was lucky to have been told about the BBC 4 documentary about land art, Forest Field and Sky whilst it was still available to watch online. These photos give a flavour of the programme.

Struggling to find anything much about Donald Urquhart and the link in the course notes no longer works. The only photo that I could find of Birked Scar was in this report from 2009 about the dissolution of the trust that managed the sculpture trail. There are some discussions elsewhere online about some of the sculptures looking tired and a number of initiatives to revitalise it. I guess natural sculptures which are exposed to the elements (especially in Aberdeen) need care and attention if they are to survive. I found this short piece about Glimpse in which he wrapped paper around tree trunks at the same level. This is a very simple idea which confuses the eye and makes the trees appear to float in space. There is something quite beguiling about the installation which I am struggling to pin down.  He also made Lines/Plane; Larus/Cygnus  which is difficult to fully appreciate from photographs. There are some more photos here with a descriptive explanation by Gavin Morrison. I wonder if the swans are using the plinth to nest. Donald Urquhart seems to have had some success with drawings of film stars (a more comprehensive list here) which are very graphic. Again there is a simplicity about his work, pared down, with no unnecessary detail, I suspect that they may have influenced David Downton, however his drawings are glamorous whereas Donald Urquhart's show the unglamourous and rather seedy side of celebrity. I don't know enough about the back story of Urquhart's fallen stars to understand all the references that he makes but as a group the portraits are rather depressing.

In the absence of anything concrete about Birked Scar I looked at David Nash's Ash Dome which sounds like it may be something similar. Ash Dome is clearly a labour of love tend by the artist over many years, I feel that a choice has to be made with environmental art whether the weathering process (and inevitable ultimate destruction) is part of the evolution of the piece or something to be staved off with maintenance. It's intriguing that the site should be so secret and maybe that is some of the charm of the piece. There have been some lovely photographs taken of the trees over the years which fully utilise the differences of the piece made by the weather and the seasons. In 2013 he had an exhibition at Kew. The nature of his work is shaped by the wood that he uses and it's good to see that he uses fallen trees and dead wood as his starting point rather than killing living trees.

I'm not so excited by Richard Long's  A line made by walking but you can see his process of thought as he moves on to make lines (and other shapes) with other arranged materials. His work seems to be more about the thought process and the ideas behind a piece and less about the look of the finished image (or the photograph) though A line in the Himalayas is beautiful.
Incidentally, whilst researching for the next project I found a "Line Made by Water" which is entirely natural and scoured into the track by a recent storm.

It links with Waterlines which intrigue me. They are so delicate for something made by mud. I assume that the black lines are the black paper but where did he hold the paper? there should be finger marks, and how did he keep the paper safe while travelling, avoiding folding it or rubbing the mud off it?

Tony Cragg seems to have moved away from the practice of land art but his early works are developed from quite simple ideas, I have a tendency to overcomplicate things and bring in too many elements. The figures in the photographs date them and are a distraction from the ideas (back in the 1970's we made art with stones)
I prefer his drawings http://www.tony-cragg.com/works_on_paper.php the repetitive lines and the way that they flow. Again the simplicity of the idea, repeated to emphasise it. You feel that you are looking into a vortex. After I had written this I went to the Tate and found that Stack is currently on display.

Andy Goldsworthy's work is discussed here in The Independent and here in The Guardian. He produces work that is more visually appealing than the other listed artists. It is more colourful and looks like something anyone could have done if they had thought of the idea. So often art is critiqued because it is something that anyone could do, yet I haven't seen that criticism levelled at Goldsworthy, is that because he generally manipulates the environment and sells the photos rather than making permanent works? Or is it because we know that we do not have such clever ideas and it is his ideas that he is selling. This website has a number of images of works by artists that I have studied with OCA I found it while I was looking for a good picture of Roof in the National Gallery in Washington DC which I was lucky to see for myself last year. They haven't shown a great photo in their description and I didn't take my own photo. This website has a better image. The structures appear to seep through the glass co existing with it but also defying it. Is it saying that the natural world will prevail against our flimsy man made structures?

In a woodland near me someone has installed a number of little doors in the bases of old trees which have been coppiced. There's another one that I forgot to photograph which says tooth fairy on it. They may be a bit twee but I find them charming. Is this art? The doors are beautifully made and sympathetically installed. It is bringing materials in to change the environment so I guess it's not quite the same as Goldsworthy's work but it does make you stop and look and maybe see the woodland in a different way?

Cornelia Konrads work Passage appeared on Colossal I love the way that it stops you in your tracks as you try and make sense of what you are looking at. I was also rather taken with Grass Works, it would take some work to keep the grass trimmed neatly and Precarious Time. She is an artist who succeeds in manipulating the ordinary to make you look at it more carefully. Simple ideas well executed.