Pedras Esculturas
Recently I have started to build small piles of stones in selected places. These examples are from whilst I was living in Portugal.It is, however something I have done sine I was a small child. It is a creative act common to many cultures. In the deserts of the South West USA they are used to mark trails.
For me it is an act of recognition of the beauty of a place, an offering of reverence to nature. A minor intervention on my part, using already present materials in an acknowledgement of its intrinsic beauty.
Like Fernando Lanhas’ Pedras Pinturas, or Julia Ventura’s Untitled Landscapes, this work highlights the beauty of nature whilst minimising the role of human authorship. For me, my role is perhaps most importantly simple presence and recognition.
My Function as an artist is only a minor rearrangement of components that are already there. Nothing is added to, or removed from, the elements that nature herself has already provided.
The fragility of the structures ensures that in a relatively short time after my departure from a place, nature will once again arrange the stones according to her wishes, and the traces of my presence will be swept away.
Unlike many works that seem to celebrate, or emphasise human attempts to dominate or capture the landscape, my intention is the exact opposite.
A recognition that nature is not only more powerful than humanity, but also that she is capable of creating far greater beauty than we could ever acheive. Our role is, therefore, to acknowledge and celebrate this. To attempt to reintegrate ourselves harmoniously back into the beauty from whence we came.
For me it is an act of recognition of the beauty of a place, an offering of reverence to nature. A minor intervention on my part, using already present materials in an acknowledgement of its intrinsic beauty.
Like Fernando Lanhas’ Pedras Pinturas, or Julia Ventura’s Untitled Landscapes, this work highlights the beauty of nature whilst minimising the role of human authorship. For me, my role is perhaps most importantly simple presence and recognition.
My Function as an artist is only a minor rearrangement of components that are already there. Nothing is added to, or removed from, the elements that nature herself has already provided.
The fragility of the structures ensures that in a relatively short time after my departure from a place, nature will once again arrange the stones according to her wishes, and the traces of my presence will be swept away.
Unlike many works that seem to celebrate, or emphasise human attempts to dominate or capture the landscape, my intention is the exact opposite.
A recognition that nature is not only more powerful than humanity, but also that she is capable of creating far greater beauty than we could ever acheive. Our role is, therefore, to acknowledge and celebrate this. To attempt to reintegrate ourselves harmoniously back into the beauty from whence we came.
Chwarae yn y Chwarel
Took the canvas to the old roman quarry and slid down the slopes on it. Sometimes I slid on it like a sledge, others I attempted to ride it as if the canvas was some kind of snowboard. It was fun and an exuberance and sense of play rapidly infected my actions. The canvas picked up traces of the natural elements of the quarry (long since disused and overgrown with grass).The most prevalent pigment is that of the earth. It was raining and had been all day. Those areas used as paths (either by people or sheep) had become muddy tracks, and those areas where the gradient left the earth exposed were also muddy.
The rain tended to wash away the more ephemeral pigments and marks; sliding on grass wiped much of the canvas clean. The grass itself left little discernable marking. It was wet and therefore didn’t create the necessary friction to break down to release its pigments. It was tough grass on exposed hilltops, and not yet being spring the new sap had not risen.
As a mark making process it did however capture some of the momentum and motion of my interaction with topography of the old quarry.
The canvas acted as a physical mediation between my body (and its actions) and the landscape. Extracting a visual representation of this relationship and capturing it in a framed (literally and culturally) object.
The rain tended to wash away the more ephemeral pigments and marks; sliding on grass wiped much of the canvas clean. The grass itself left little discernable marking. It was wet and therefore didn’t create the necessary friction to break down to release its pigments. It was tough grass on exposed hilltops, and not yet being spring the new sap had not risen.
As a mark making process it did however capture some of the momentum and motion of my interaction with topography of the old quarry.
The canvas acted as a physical mediation between my body (and its actions) and the landscape. Extracting a visual representation of this relationship and capturing it in a framed (literally and culturally) object.
Topograffi
Landscape artists have for far too long been content to be mere spectators.
This separation from the earth has led to to an inability to engage with site.
More seriously, landscape art has been a contribution towards the commodification of the place.
Even today’s land artists often turn their works into objects for sale.
The logic of capital pollutes landscape art as surely as it pollutes the landscape itself.
It is time, as Camille Pissarro urged over a century ago, to be humble before the earth.
To dispense with mediation.
To allow the earth to draw on us when we draw on it.
To regain our senses of joy and play and restore a relationship as old as humanity.
2003
This separation from the earth has led to to an inability to engage with site.
More seriously, landscape art has been a contribution towards the commodification of the place.
Even today’s land artists often turn their works into objects for sale.
The logic of capital pollutes landscape art as surely as it pollutes the landscape itself.
It is time, as Camille Pissarro urged over a century ago, to be humble before the earth.
To dispense with mediation.
To allow the earth to draw on us when we draw on it.
To regain our senses of joy and play and restore a relationship as old as humanity.
2003