Scale- Robert Smithson
Although this is something I've had in the back of m head for a while, with ideas of creating a large scale piece and having looked at some artists that create large work. It was an e-mail from Cargo which is basically a site to design websites but in their e-mails they often have some good content that looks at more known creators (Affections) as well as highlighting some work from people who use the site. Anyway, the e-mail that go me thinking about this was based on scale.
The area that really got me thinking was the Affections section which highlighted the work of Robert Smith. I remember looking at his work some time during school but his work stood out to me now as not only is the work large scale, it often works within or around nature. He died in 1973 but during his time he created a vast portfolio of work ranging from sculpture to photography to essay writing and something that is called "Earthwork".
"Although Robert Smithson died at the age of only 35, his short career has inspired more young artists than most among the generation that emerged in the 1960s. A formidable writer and critic as well as an artist, his interests ranged from Catholicism to mineralogy to science fiction. His earliest pieces were paintings and collages, but he soon came to focus on sculpture; he responded to the Minimalism and Conceptualism of the early 1960s and he started to expand his work out of galleries and into the landscape. In 1970, he produced the Earthwork, or Land art, for which he is best known, Spiral Jetty, a remarkable coil of rock composed in the colored waters of the shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah." (The Art Story, n.d.).
His Earthwork interests me, working on such a massive scale to actually shape the earth and the natural environment. I am reminded of the work of Simon Beck, although he doesn't change the environments permanently, he does use the natural environment as his canvas, see post here.
This isn't something that I want to do at this stage, however his sculpture work has some very interesting elements to it. He works with various materials, some natural such as salt and soil.
![[SMI]-A-Gravel Mirrors-dig-pro-cc-LR](https://www.diaart.org/media/w1050h700/object/smi-a-gravel-mirrors-dig-pro-cc-lr.jpg)
Back to Robert Smithson's work. Natural material is something I would like to use. I am using what I consider to be natural material, such as cardboard which I see as reusing material that has been made from natural elements. However I would like to use i in its raw form like Smithson does.
Bibliography:
Dia Art Foundation. (n.d.). Robert Smithson, Gravel Mirrors with Cracks and Dust. Retrieved from https://www.diaart.org/collection/collection/smithson-robert-gravel-mirrors-with-cracks-and-dust-1968-2013-024#
Holt-Smithson Society. (2001). Robert Smithson. Retrieved from http://www.robertsmithson.com/index_.htm
The Art Story. (n.d.). Robert Smithson, American Sculptor and Writer. Retrieved from http://www.theartstory.org/artist-smithson-robert.htm
The area that really got me thinking was the Affections section which highlighted the work of Robert Smith. I remember looking at his work some time during school but his work stood out to me now as not only is the work large scale, it often works within or around nature. He died in 1973 but during his time he created a vast portfolio of work ranging from sculpture to photography to essay writing and something that is called "Earthwork".
Broken Circle, 1971, diameter 140', canal approximately 12' wide, depth quarry lake 10 to 15"
"Although Robert Smithson died at the age of only 35, his short career has inspired more young artists than most among the generation that emerged in the 1960s. A formidable writer and critic as well as an artist, his interests ranged from Catholicism to mineralogy to science fiction. His earliest pieces were paintings and collages, but he soon came to focus on sculpture; he responded to the Minimalism and Conceptualism of the early 1960s and he started to expand his work out of galleries and into the landscape. In 1970, he produced the Earthwork, or Land art, for which he is best known, Spiral Jetty, a remarkable coil of rock composed in the colored waters of the shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah." (The Art Story, n.d.).
His Earthwork interests me, working on such a massive scale to actually shape the earth and the natural environment. I am reminded of the work of Simon Beck, although he doesn't change the environments permanently, he does use the natural environment as his canvas, see post here.
This isn't something that I want to do at this stage, however his sculpture work has some very interesting elements to it. He works with various materials, some natural such as salt and soil.
Gravel Mirrors with Cracks and Dust, 1968. Dia Art Foundation; Partial gift, Lannan Foundation, 2013
This piece above was made using gravel. I have always like the idea of using "natural" elements to work and this is really making me think about the other elements that I want as part of my overall instillation, to go alongside my artist book. I have wanted to have various elements to form my final piece as I want to give an idea of scale of he vastness which would be hard to do otherwise especially in the time frame I have. I have previously, without realizing it, noted scale in quite a big way through the work of Cau Guo-Qiang. I focused in a previous post on his 2D work with gunpowder on paper, noting scale. However I also watched his documentary Sky Ladder where at the end he finally creates the piece he has wanted to create for years in the form of a giant ladder that reaches up the sky. He then uses gunpowder, his signature material, to light it up (see image bellow).
Sky Ladder, Cau Guo-Qiang from here
Back to Robert Smithson's work. Natural material is something I would like to use. I am using what I consider to be natural material, such as cardboard which I see as reusing material that has been made from natural elements. However I would like to use i in its raw form like Smithson does.
Slate Grind #4 here
Chalk and Mirror Displacement here
Robert Smithson's Chalk Mirror Displacement constructed at the Oxted chalkpit quarry, Surrey, and photographed by the artist 1969 here
I like that Smithson has had an idea and has then put that into different environments. I would like to do this if the chance arises and this could even form some of the objects that form the instillation.
Bibliography:
Dia Art Foundation. (n.d.). Robert Smithson, Gravel Mirrors with Cracks and Dust. Retrieved from https://www.diaart.org/collection/collection/smithson-robert-gravel-mirrors-with-cracks-and-dust-1968-2013-024#
Holt-Smithson Society. (2001). Robert Smithson. Retrieved from http://www.robertsmithson.com/index_.htm
The Art Story. (n.d.). Robert Smithson, American Sculptor and Writer. Retrieved from http://www.theartstory.org/artist-smithson-robert.htm
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