It was a hot and humid day. What did I expect in upstate New
York in late August? We were about an hour into our mid-day trek through the
lush Hudson Valley landscape of Storm King when I began to envy the napping
two-year-old grandchild passed out in her stroller. It was my first visit to the
legendary art center and I wasn’t going to wimp out because of the weather – ahead
were 500 acres dedicated to a collection of more than 100 sculptures, all
carefully situated in the pristine landscape. I forged ahead as works by Dennis
Oppenheim, Maya Lin, Richard Serra, Alexander Calder and Barnett Newman (to
name a few) slowly revealed themselves. Finally, soaked in sweat and starting
to weaken in the knees, my haughty attitude toward the people who had opted to
take the tram began to soften. Just when I was about to be the first in our
group to cave and suggest we hop on board, there it was: Andy Goldsworthy’s
Wall.
Andy Goldsworthy. Sumach leaves laid around a hole. Storm King Art Center, 18 October 1998. Wall at Storm King, Abrams, New York |
The nearly half mile of stacked stone wall starts out
ordinarily enough, then takes off in a wild serpentine chase downhill around and
through a line of trees, until it disappears into a small lake only to
reappear on the other side, straighten itself out and continue its march until
it dead ends at a highway.
If you don’t want to brave the elements or can’t get to
Storm King anytime soon, the wall is beautifully documented from conception to completion in over 100 photographs in Andy Goldsworthy: Wall at Storm King. Also included are
photographs of ephemeral works that Goldsworthy did at the site before and
after the wall was completed. Wet autumn leaves are pressed into the grooves in the wet
bark of a tree to form a bold yellow design. Vivid shades of sumac leaves are
placed around a hole in the ground creating a sense of wonder and mystery.
Accompanying text gives insight into his
creative process:
“Searching out lines that already exist interests me more
than imposing new ones. I have made lines that explore and follow the contours
of a rock, the edge of river, the growth of a branch, the junction between
house and street . . . Pressing leaves into the bark of a tree produces lines
dictated by the tree’s growth patterns. The intention is not just to make a
line, but to draw the change, movement, growth and decay that flow through a
place.”
Another more recent book, Andy Goldsworthy: Ephemeral Works 2004-2014, consists entirely of Goldsworthy’s photographs of his ephemeral
works. The artist's endless creativity is on display as he interacts with whatever
environment he finds himself in -- throwing kelp in the air at the shore and capturing
its aerial arabesques, placing ice sheets on a barbed-wire fence near his home
in Scotland so they perfectly capture the light, or making rain shadows late at
night on the sidewalks of NYC. Ephemeral Works documents approximately 200 of these works, works that by their very nature only exist for us through photography.
Andy Goldsworthy, Hedge Crawl and Walk. Dawn. Frost. Cold Hands. Sinderby, England. 4 March 2014 Andy Goldsworthy: Ephemeral Works 2004-2014. Abrams, New York. |
Jane,
ReplyDeleteAlways a pleasure and education receiving your blog. Patrick Gleason's music that accompanies Andy Goldsworthy Wall video is new to me. What a valuable discovery. Thank you.