Andy Goldsworthy is a British artist known for his brilliant intersection of nature and art. He only uses materials he finds outside to create his works and leaves them there to degrade naturally when he is finished, thus imbuing an element of time-sensitivity. Using leaves, branches, stones, and ice, Goldsworthy spends hours at a time meticulously arranging these items to create visual illusions that dazzle the viewer. This show of incredible patience is one of the reasons his art is so interesting to me— he organizes and floats leaf formations in small ponds, orders sticks to create portal-looking structures, and carves ice into tunnels; seemingly for no reason. Nature is inherently imperfect, but Goldsworthy is able to see the patters and perfection through the chaos.
Andy Goldsworthy’s art charms me in a unique way. As a fellow devout lover of nature, I appreciate tremendously his attention to earthly details, dedication to art that does no harm, and advocacy for environmentalism. The next time I find myself walking through a forest or by Lake Michigan, I’ll think about how Andy Goldsworthy sees beauty in ways no one else does.
In addition to an incredible sense for pattern creation, Andy Goldsworthy also possesses a masterful power over color. He creates almost unreal gradients that pull the viewers eyes towards the center, captivating them in his work. Since he photographs all of his own work, some have speculated that he uses photoshop to create such brilliant effects, but alas, it is all real and all very beautiful.
Having grown up in an
agricultural family, Goldsworthy has always felt particularly close to nature,
and creating his art with it is a way for him to connect on a deeper level with
the Earth he loves so much. Additionally, he is an avid environmentalist and
uses his works to bring focus off of the everyday drab of buildings and cities,
and back onto nature, reminding us all of its natural beauty and the need to
preserve our planet’s ecosystems.
I see a resemblance
between Andy Goldsworthy and Frank Gehry in the sense that they are both
creatives that work at a crossroads: Andy at the crossroad of environmentalism
and art, and Frank at the crossroad of Architecture and art. They also both work
in abstract mediums and find a bit of childhood reflection in their work—a life
in nature, and a creative boy who made cities from wood blocks. Both Gehry and
Goldsworthy but create an art for the adult world that invokes a sense of
childlike wonder—buildings with curves and canopies that feel like a fun house
to be in, and trees in the forest with leaves arranged to make it appear like
it’s base is glowing in a video game.
I love your choice of creative and how they tie art and environmentalism together. The pictures give such a good representation of how beautiful the art is and how Goldsworthy finds unique beauty in nature. I also totally agree with your comparison to Frank Gehry and how they both introduce art into a realm that it hadn't existed before.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the tree art of his before, but I never knew the artist until now! All this time I assumed it was just some random guy with a lot of time on his hands.
ReplyDeleteFor real though, I really respect this guy from what you described. Perhaps it's the looming and crushing presence of global warming, but knowing that his art is environmentally conscious is something that stands out to me in an admirable way. While I love art, it obviously has to use up some sort of resource. I find his efficiency and ingenuity to utilize the nature around him very impressive. The fact it naturally degrades too is great.
I also really enjoy your remark on how he sees the patterns in the seeming imperfection and randomness of nature.
I hadn't heard about Andy Goldsworthy before reading this post, so thank you so much for talking about him. I too share a love of art and nature, so reading about his process, respect for the environment and creativity is something that I loved reading about. The ephemeral nature of art is something I think we as a society try to avoid, because we want art to be preserved we want it to last, so it is beautiful to see an artist let go of that notion and have the beauty in part come from the temporary and the changing world.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard about Goldsworthy before this post but his work is absolutely fascinating! I had seen the "glowing tree" picture floating around the internet but I didn't think about the artist at all, I'm glad I got to read about him today. What a fascinating intersection of emphasizing nature through art.
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