Böcker av William Malpas

LAND ART IN THE U.S.A. A new study of land art in America, featuring all of the well-known land artists from the ¿golden age¿ of land art - the 1960s - to the present day. Fully illustrated, with a bibliography. EXTRACT FROM THE CHAPTER ON ROBERT SMITHSON Robert Smithson is the key land artist, the premier artist in the world of land art. And he¿s been a big favourite with art critics since the early Seventies. Smithson was the chief mouthpiece of American earth/ site æsthetics, and is probably the most important artist among all land artists. For Robert Smithson, Carl Andre, Walter de Maria, Michael Heizer, Dennis Oppenheim and Tony Smith were ¿the more compelling artists today, concerned with ¿Place¿ or ¿Site¿¿. Smithson was impressed by Tony Smith¿s vision of the mysterious aspects of a dark unfinished road and called Smith ¿the agent of endlessness¿. Smith¿s æsthetic became part of Smithson¿s view of art as a complete ¿site¿, not simply an æsthetic of sculptural objects. Smithson was not inspired by ancient religious sculpture, by burial mounds, for example, so much as by decayed industrial sites. He visited some in the mid-1960s that were ¿in some way disrupted or pulverized¿. He said he was looking for a ¿denaturalization rather than built up scenic beauty¿. Robert Smithson said he was concerned, like many land (and contemporary artists with the thing in itself, not its image, its effect, its critical significance: ¿I am for an art that takes into account the direct effect of the elements as they exist from day to day apart from representation¿. Smithson¿s theory of the ¿non-site¿ was based on ¿absence, a very ponderous, weighty absence¿. Smithson proposed a theory of a dialectic between absence and presence, in which the ¿non-site¿ and ¿site¿ are both interacting. In the ¿non-site¿ work, presence and absence are there simultaneously. ¿The land or ground from the Site is placed in the art (Non-Site) rather than the art is placed on the ground. The Non-Site is a container within another container ¿ the room¿. William Malpas has written books on Richard Long and land art, as well as three books on Andy Goldsworthy, including the forthcoming Andy Goldsworthy In America. Malpas¿s books on Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy are the only full-length studies of these artists available.

LAND ART IN THE U.S.A. A study of land art in America, featuring all of the well-known land artists from the 'golden age' of land art - the 1960s - to the present day. This book explores all of the major American land, environmental and earthwork artists of the past 40 years, as well as European land artists working in North America. The book includes chapters on James Turrell and his vast volcano site ¿ Michael Heizer's Mid-West earthworks ¿ Robert Smithson and his giant spiral, entropic earthworks ¿ Robert Morris's environments and observatories ¿ Walter de Maria's Romantic Lightning Field and Earth Room ¿ Dennis Oppenheim's concentric snow circles ¿ Alice Aycock's mysterious underground mazes ¿ Mary Miss's sunken pools and pavilions ¿ Nancy Holt and her observation sculptures ¿ and the enigmatic floor sculptures of Carl Andre. And Europeans such as: Hans Haacke's Conceptual art ¿ Richard Long and his art of walking ¿ Andy Goldsworthy's natural, spontaneous, eco-friendly sculptures ¿ and Christo's wrapped buildings and islands. EXTRACT FROM THE CHAPTER ON ROBERT SMITHSON Robert Smithson is the key land artist, the premier artist in the world of land art. And he's been a big favourite with art critics since the early Seventies. Smithson was the chief mouthpiece of American earth/ site aesthetics, and is probably the most important artist among all land artists. For Robert Smithson, Carl Andre, Walter de Maria, Michael Heizer, Dennis Oppenheim and Tony Smith were 'the more compelling artists today, concerned with 'Place' or 'Site''. Smithson was impressed by Tony Smith's vision of the mysterious aspects of a dark unfinished road and called Smith 'the agent of endlessness'. Smith's aesthetic became part of Smithson's view of art as a complete 'site', not simply an aesthetic of sculptural objects. Smithson was not inspired by ancient religious sculpture, by burial mounds, for example, so much as by decayed industrial sites. He visited some in the mid-1960s that were 'in some way disrupted or pulverized'. He said he was looking for a 'denaturalization rather than built up scenic beauty'. Robert Smithson said he was concerned, like many land (and contemporary artists with the thing in itself, not its image, its effect, its critical significance: 'I am for an art that takes into account the direct effect of the elements as they exist from day to day apart from representation'. Smithson's theory of the 'non-site' was based on 'absence, a very ponderous, weighty absence'. Smithson proposed a theory of a dialectic between absence and presence, in which the 'non-site' and 'site' are both interacting. In the 'non-site' work, presence and absence are there simultaneously. 'The land or ground from the Site is placed in the art (Non-Site) rather than the art is placed on the ground. The Non-Site is a container within another container - the room'. William Malpas has written books on Richard Long and land art, as well as three books on Andy Goldsworthy, including the forthcoming Andy Goldsworthy In America. Malpas's books on Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy are the only full-length studies of these artists available. Fully illustrated, with a newly revised text for this edition. Bibliography and notes. ISBN 9781861714060. 328 pages. www.crmoon.com

RICHARD LONG: POCKET GUIDE by WILLIAM MALPASThe central fact and act of Richard Long''s art is walking. His work is founded on the art of walking, the act of walking, the actuality of walking, and on walking as art, as act, as experience. His walks become ''artwalks'', artwalks which become artworks. ΓÇóΓÇóΓÇóFor Richard Long, (art)walking is (art)working. As he walks he works. Art-walking and art-working become interchangeable. ''I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks - who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering'', wrote Henry Thoreau. ΓÇóΓÇóΓÇóRichard Long is a British land artist and sculptor who works with and in the natural world, but also with and within the highly sophisticated, artificial and humanmade world of art and culture. ''I too wanted to make nature the subject of my work,'' Long explained of his early work, ''but in new ways. I started working outside using natural materials like grass and water, and this evolved into the idea of making a sculpture by walking''. ΓÇóΓÇóΓÇóThis book also considers topics such as contemporary and postwar art and sculpture; Richard Long''s contemporaries, including fellow British sculptors; and land art. ΓÇóΓÇóΓÇóIn the course of this book William Malpas references many of Richard Long''s contemporary British sculptors (Tony Cragg, Bill Woodrow, David Nash, Barry Flanagan, Alison Wilding, Shirazeh Houshiary, Richard Wentworth, Boyd Webb, Hamish Fulton, Stephen Cox, Philip King, Anthony Caro, Tim Head, William Tucker, Anish Kapoor, Anthony Gormley, David Mach, Peter Randall-Page, Nicholas Pope and Gilbert & George). ΓÇóΓÇóΓÇóFurther chapters include: one on women, feminist, body art and performance sculptors, as a comparison with Richard Long''s art, which has a strong component of performance (even if it''s nearly always private). Also, a consideration of gendered sculpture and art. In the chapter on Minimal, Conceptual, Process and other 1960s and post-1960s art and artists, I''m interested in the artists (primarily European and American) who have most in common with Richard Long''s art: the great Minimal and land artists, such as Donald Judd, Robert Morris, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Dennis Oppenheim, James Turrell and Robert Ryman, and the important Conceptual artists, such as Hans Haacke, Bruce Nauman, Yves Klein and Lawrence Weiner. ΓÇóΓÇóΓÇóAUTHOR''S NOTE: This is a revised edition of a book first published in 2007. I have updated the study with information of more recent exhibitions and artworks of Richard Long. The book has involved a good deal of research into Long''s art over the years, and I hope that readers will gain some new insights into this inspiring artist''s work. Fully illustrated, with a newly revised text. Bibliography and notes. ISBN 971861713308. ΓÇóΓÇóΓÇówww.crmoon.com