ROBERT SMITHSON 
SPIRAL JETTY

This peice by Robert Smithson constructed in the 1970's, is famous for being one of the most iconic peices of Land art. Built entirely of mud, salt crystals, basalt rocks, earth, and water on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake, it forms a 1,500-foot-long (460 m), 15-foot-wide (4.6 m) counterclockwise coil jutting from the shore of the lake which is only visible when the level of the Great Salt Lake falls below a certain level.

Due to natural elements, the colour and shape of the sculptural work has altered causing controvery over wether or not the structure should be restored to its upmost splender. Smithson however expressed an admiration for entropy in that he intended his works to mimic earthly attributes in that they remain in a state of arrested disruption and not be kept from destruction.

CHRISTO AND JEANNE-CLAUDE

SURROUNDED ISLAND

Above is an example of a work by Christo and Jeanne-Claude 'Surrounded Islands' situated in Biscayne Bay, between the city of Miami, North Miami, the Village of Miami Shores and Miami Beach. Eleven of the islands situated in the area were surrounded with 6.5 million square feet (603,870 square meters) of floating pink woven polypropylene fabric covering the surface of the water and extending out 200 feet (61 meters) from each island into the bay.

The idea's for the works come from their own brains, they refuse to take any influence - including sponsership from others on the basis that they wish to work in complete freedom. They believe that accepting these offers would compromise their art and so make zero profit from their work.

The main factor in the works is fabric, it gives the work a fragility and tempory characetr which could not be obtained if using other materials. The work is about altering the enviroment itself and in doing so, we see and perceive the whole environment with new eyes and a new consciousness.

JIM DENEVAN

Jim Denevan makes temporary drawings on sand, earth and ice that are eventually erased by waves and weather.To create the sand drawings he simply used a rake for mark making. In the case of the earth drawings, Denevan travelled around america and observed that Any vehicle moving across it's surface makes a temporary mark. The drawing was composed by driving around in circles. The smaller circles were composed freehand walking with a stick and the line was then made wider by driving around in circles. The idea behind it was simply that

Generally vehicles make more of a mark in the spring, when the surface is moist, less of a mark in the fall when the surface is drier. At times of the year when there are many visitors (summer/fall) the whole area has thousands of vehicle tracks... something like motorized snail trails.

The idea behind Jim Denevans work was very much that they were temporary.

NANCY HOLT

SUN TUNELS 

Nancy Holt is an American artist famous for her public sculpture, installation art and land art.

Among her major works is Sun Tunnels, located in the Great Basin Desert outside of the ghost town of Lucin, Utah. The work is a product of Holt’s interest in the great variation of intensity of the sun in the desert compared to the sun in the city. Holt searched for and found a site which was remote and empty.

"It is a very desolate area, but it is totally accessible, and it can be easily visited, making Sun Tunnels more accessible really than art in museums . . . A work like Sun Tunnels is always accessible . . . Eventually, as many people will see Sun Tunnels as would see many works in a city-in a museum anyway."

The work consists of four massive concrete tunnels (18 feet long and nine feet in diameter), which are arranged in an “X” configuration to total a length of 86 feet (26 m). Each tunnel reacts differently to the sun, aligned with the sunrise, sunset, or the summer or winter solstice. Someone visiting the site would see the tunnels immediately with their contrast to the fairly undifferentiated desert landscape. Approaching the work, which can be seen one to one-and-a-half miles away, the viewer’s perception of space is questioned as the tunnels change views as a product of their landscape.

The tunnels not only provide a much-needed shelter from the sweltering desert sun, but once inside the dazzling effect of the play of light within the tunnels can be seen. The top of each tunnel has small holes, forming on each, the constellations of Draco, Perseus, Columba, and Capricorn, respectively. The diameters of the holes differ in relation to the magnitude of the stars represented. These holes cast spots of daylight in the dark interiors of the tunnels, which appear almost like stars. Holt has said of the tunnels, "It’s an inversion of the sky/ground relationship-bringing the sky down to the earth." This is a common theme in Holt’s work. She sometimes creates this relationship with reflecting pools and shadow patterns marked on the ground, like in her work Star Crossed.

AGNES DENES

WHEATFIELD-ACONFRONTATION 

One of the early pioneers of both the environmental art movement and Conceptual art, Agnes Denes brings her wide ranging interests in the physical and social sciences, mathematics, philosophy, linguistics, poetry and music to her delicate drawings, books and monumental artworks.

Perhaps best known for Wheatfield—A Confrontation (1982), a two-acre wheat field she planted and harvested in downtown Manhattan, a work that addresses human values and misplaced priorities. The harvested grain then traveled to 28 cities worldwide in "The International Art Show for the End of World Hunger" and was symbolically planted around the globe.

WALTER DE MARIA

THE EARTH ROOM

The Earth Room is a 22-inch-deep layer of dirt spread across a 3,600-square-foot gallery space in the middle of SoHo. Created in 1977 by American artist Walter De Maria, best known for his involvement in the earthworks/land art movement of the the 60s and 70s. His most well known work is the installation of 400 metal rods in the desert in New Mexico entitled Lightning Field.


Earth room has been a peaceful, quiet sanctuary from the bustle of the street below for three decades, where the mix of smells from the streets of New York are reduced to only one: the rich smell of soil. While there were originally two additional Earth Rooms, both in Germany, this is the last one remaining.


To keep the Earth Room in good shape, curators must regularly water the dirt. Occasional mushrooms have been found sprouting in the 280,000 pounds of dirt. Though it would be a difficult piece to transport and reinstall elsewhere, it is estimated to be worth at least a million dollars. The space itself, in Manhattan's trendy SoHo neighborhood, is probably worth much more. 

DARO MONTAG

THIS EARTH 

Daro Montag facilitates the creation of images generated by micro-organisms:  by placing earth on moist color film, Montag encourages the dormant micro-organisms to activate.  Their activity - moving, eating, procreating, and defecating - is recorded directly on the film. 

OCCASIONAL SIGHTS

'The book guides the reader to sites in London where fleeting and memorable things have been noticed but are no longer there. It is an anti-guidebook in the sense of memorials and palaces. Its footnotes guide the reader around the bibliography, which has been walked as meanderingly as the streets.'

Although not directly relevant to Land art, i found this book very interesting in the way in which it records sights, sounds and information about the surroundings. I like that all these components were also temporary, like many other art forms this peice allows the beholder to see the surroundings in a different light altogether. I have found this is the general motif of land art.

STEFAN SAGMEISTER

KEEPING A DIARY

Similarly to Land Art and Conceptual Art, typographer and graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister conveys a wider meaning through land art in his typographic experiments.

"DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY LEADS TO SOMETHING EXCEPTIONAL"

Again, this advert demonstrates the ways in which land art can be used in its various forms to express ideas to a wider audience.