Movement Land Art

In 1970, Smithson created one of the most famous Land Art works when he transformed an abandoned industrial site into the Spiral Jetty, a carrousel of  mud, precipitated salt crystals, and basalt rock. However, as the water level was very low when Smithson created this piece, his work disappeared when the level eventually rose. Then, in 2002, Smithson's work reappeared, almost entirely intact. Although the artist sought to assert his power over nature through art, it was ultimately mother nature who governed his artistic creation; concealing and revealing it as she pleased.  Some artists, such as Dibbets, Goldsworthy, LeWitt or Long, use text and photography to document their ephemeral additions to landscapes and the environment. 

Richard Long: one of the best known Land Artists, walking is central to Long's works. He has made various solitary walks in Alaska, the Sahara and even Mongolia, which he then documents through photography. 

Andy Goldsworthy: British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist, Goldsworthy creates land art situated in natural and urban settings. According to Goldsworthy, a wall is “a line in harmony with the place it crosses."He explored this idea in 1995 with his work Storm King Wall. 

Walter De Maria Il: Maria established himself as a Land Artist through his work Lightning Field in New Mexico. It consists of 400 stainless steel poles arranged in a rectangular 1 mile × 1 kilometre grid.

Nancy Holt: Known for her Sun Tunnels, Holt's 1976 Land Art consists of four huge cylinders arranged in crosses in Utah. These tunnels are aligned with the position of the sun at sunrise and sunset, and are currently being restored by the Dia Art Foundation.

The realm of Land Art, like land itself, is enormous, and offers artists a myriad of ways to express themselves within nature. This can be seen in contemporary artist Simon Beck's “Sow Art" pieces, which embrace the unison of art and nature. Find works by other emerging artists, such as Christo, on Artsper now!