He was also a noted sculptor, painter, writer, and lecturer working primarily in new york city. Robert smithsons spiral jetty, located at rozel point on the northeastern shore of great salt lake in utah, is one of the most remarkable examples of land art. Chaos, disorganization, randomness, in merriamwebster, 2014. Robert smithson s spiral jetty is the poster child for the antiformalist earth art movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Robert smithson spiral jetty, 1970 robert smithsons spiral jetty, located at rozel point on the northeastern shore of great salt lake in utah, is one of the most remarkable examples of land art. Entropy and art the view beyond arnheim matilde marcolli 2015. Smithson, a provisional theory of nonsites 1968 see note 1, p. Yale university press, 2004 highlights the transcontinental railroad and the early history of paterson, but is far more interested in smithsons relationship to the category of history than to any particular history, and generally sees it as disappearing into. This interview took place about two months before smithsons death. Robert smithson robert smithson selected interviews with. Robert smithson spiral jetty, 1970 one of the most remarkable examples of land art is robert smithsons spiral jetty, located at rozel point peninsula on the northeastern shore of great salt.
One saturday in september 1967, robert smithson, equipped with a kodak instamatic and a copy of brian aldiss sciencefiction novel earthworks, took a no. Robert smithson other theoretical writings explore the relationship of a piece of art to its environment, from which he developed his concept of sites and nonsites. Time crystals curated by dr amelia barikin and professor chris mcauliffe robert smithson. Through public service their foundation engages in programs. Spiral jetty, robert smithson the monumental earthwork spiral jetty 1970 was created by artist robert smithson and is located off rozel point in the north arm of great salt lake. Pdf entropic discourse in robert smithsons spiral jetty. This exhibition marks the debut of james cohans second nyc gallery space located on the lower east side. His largescale sculptures, called earthworks, engaged directly with nature and were created by moving and constructing with vast amounts of soil and rocks smithson preferred to work with ruined or exhausted sites in nature. Smithsons work has been the subject of numerous monographic exhibitions, including robert smithson sculpture, curated by robert hobbs at cornell university, the whitney museum of american art, new york, ny, and the walker art center, minneapolis, mi 1980. Much controversy surrounded the work throughout its existence. If one visits the site, he will see nothing resembling a pure object.
Robert smithson focused his short but influential career on a reconsideration of the nature of sculptureor, rather, of sculpture in relation to nature. Robert smithsons spiral jetty is the poster child for the antiformalist earth art movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Also included are audiotapes and videotapes of a 1990 conference on robert smithson held at kent state university in conjunction with an exhibition in the school of art gallery. Separated by more than one century of environmental thought, transcendentalist author henry thoreau and land art pioneer robert smithson espoused contrasting views on the relation between nature and civilization. Smithson might have described itbeing now dialectically bound and mirroring one another. Robert smithsons earthwork spiral jetty 1970 is located at rozel point peninsula on the northeastern shore of great salt lake.
Apr 30, 2010 robert smithson other theoretical writings explore the relationship of a piece of art to its environment, from which he developed his concept of sites and nonsites. Corroded infrastructure 2010robert smithsons writings on entropy, 196667. This independent organization obliged to take care. Smithson 19381973 created the partially buried woodshed on the kent state campus in 1970. Review by john haber of robert smithson at the whitney museum, with thoughts on spiral jetty, minimalism, earthworks, sitespecific art, and outdoor sculpture brought indoors, and of floating island, the realization of an earthwork by robert smithson, in the hudson river, in the east river, and near hudson river park, new york city, by nancy holt, minetta brook arts organization, the. Robert smithson from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia robert smithson january 2, 1938 july 20, 1973 was an american artist famous for his use of photography in relation to sculpture and land art. Robert smithson, spiral jetty in 2004, rozel point, great salt lake, utah. Robert smithson and ruins in reverse simon osullivan ction. Robert smithson s enantiomorphic chambers and the exhibition of absence valerio. This interview took place about two months before smithson s death. Information and entropy in the cold war and its present.
The legacy of a pioneering land art intervention in utah. Photograph of robert smithsons glue pour 1970, by christos dikeakos. The status of the object in social science conference, september 9. Best known for his radical land art of the 1960s and early 1970s, smithson. Problems with arnheims \entropy and art 1 problems with the scienti c notion of entropy overly emphasizes. Robert smithson, entropic landscape, 1970, pencil on paper, 19 x 24. Sculpture has been called art an updating of the macho that among the abstract one that is not easily conformable to dards of beauty, radiance. Oral history interview with robert smithson, 1972 july 14. Robert smithson american sculptor and writer britannica. Unfortunately, three years after creating it, the artist died in a helicopter crash in texas. The signatures of robert smithson gary shapiro t has been the fate of a number of twentiethcentury artists that the stronger their attacks on the history and traditions. Reaching the innermost point, smithson gazes out at the spiral path, lake, and mountains. Similarly, jarry, who considered a career in science and. Made of black basalt rocks and earth gathered from the site, spiral jetty is a 15footwide coil that stretches more than 1,500 feet into the lake.
This collection contains several photographs of smithson s partially buried woodshed, clippings on the work and smithson, and other miscellaneous items. Spiral jetty serves as a site from which to view the surroundings the prehistoric environment that smithson selected for it. Robert smithson and the gold rush mobile lives forum. Robert smithsons the film, by smithsons widow, artist nancy holt, is entitled breaking ground. Holt and smithson developed innovative ways of exploring our relationship with the planet, expanding the limits of artistic practice. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Swirling into the spiral jetty by robert smithson widewalls. Glue pour, 1970 adam lauder reappraises robert smithsons glue pour project, noting its resonance with wider narratives of vancouver art and conceptual arts history. In 1975 a portion of the work was set on fire and half of the structure was burned. Smithson the entropy of a modem art that has become overrefined, insular, and incapable of being understood except by the initiated. Robert smithson was born in passaic, new jersey, in 1938. See more ideas about robert smithson, land art and installation art. Although published posthumously, smithson and sky completed the editing of the text together and smithson provided all the illustrations. He began his career as a painter but in the mid1960s started to experiment in different media, including sculpture, writing, drawing, film, and eventually, earthworks.
In 1970, assisted by a crew operating dump trucks, a tractor, and a front loader. Robert smithsons new jersey at the montclair art museum returns the artist to the area, with more than 60 works made locally or highlighting the. Glue pour the estate of robert smithsonvaga new yorksodart montreal 2004. Slide projection of thirtyone 35mm color slides 126 format and audio recording of a lecture by the artist at the university of utah in 1972 42 minutes, 57 seconds. Robert smithson january 2, 1938 july 20, 1973 was an american artist known for sculpture and land art who often used drawing and photography in relation to the spatial arts. Oral history interview with robert smithson, 1972 july 1419. Smithson s wife, nancy holt 1938 was a noted sculptor and filmmaker and also worked as an earthworks artist. Holtsmithson foundation exists to continue the creative and investigative spirit of the artists nancy holt 19382014 and robert smithson 193873. Using over six thousand tons of black basalt rocks and earth from the site, smithson formed a coil 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide that winds counterclockwise off the shore into the water. In this ongoing series, writers are invited to discuss a contemporary work that has special significance for them.
In thermodynamics, the degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system. James cohan is pleased to present pop, an exhibition of the late robert smithsons works on paper and select sculpture from 196264, on view from november 21 through january 10, 2016. A coil of earth, salt, and stone that smithson built into great salt lake, utah, the piece is a tribute to the movements scale and engineering. Robert smithson, entropy and the new monuments, from \unpublished writings in robert smithson. To the uninitiated his art appears at worst to be about. In 1970, assisted by a crew operating dump trucks, a tractor, and a front loader, smithson displaced some 6,000 tons of black basalt rock and earth from the adjacent shore to form a coil 1,500 feet long and approximately 15 feet wide. Smithson would in fact as ron graziani suggests in his book robert smithson and the american landscape reject any ideology, political, environmental, or otherwise when it came to issues of the earth, as he considered them all ultimately an exercise in futility in the face of entropy. Robert smithson expressed a profound interest in the arts from an early age. A bleached and fractured world surrounds the artist. July 1966, respectively, and entropy and the new monuments in artforum in june 1966. Robert smithson spiral jetty, 1970 one of the most remarkable examples of land art is robert smithsons spiral jetty, located at rozel point peninsula on the northeastern shore of great salt lake. Works on paper, 1957 73, curated by eugenie tsai at. Heizercalls his earth projects the alternative to the absolute city. In 1999, the artist nancy holt, smithson s wife, and the estate of robert smithson, decided to donate spiral jetty to the dia art foundation.
It was danteesque, but done in terms of it was a rough irregular grid type painting with sort of fragments of faces and things embedded in this grid, and other things were king of iconic, tending toward a kind of byzantine relationship. Robert smithson, hotel palenque, dimensions variable 196972. Broken circlespiral hill revisited, at the center for visual arts, emmen, 17 september27 november 2011. In 1953, as a highschool student, he won a scholarship to the art students league of new york, where he studied in the evenings for the next two years, also taking classes at the brooklyn museum art.
With the assistance of a team operating dump trucks, a front loader, and. Pdf roberth smithson entropy chiara cocon academia. Spiral jetty is an earthwork sculpture constructed in april 1970 that is considered to be the most important work of american sculptor robert smithson. While still attending high school in clifton, new jersey, during the mid 1950s, he attended art classes on the side in new york city. Mar 09, 2014 robert smithsons new jersey at the montclair art museum returns the artist to the area, with more than 60 works made locally or highlighting the landscapes of the state, which smithson. Robert smithson 19381973 was the pioneer of land and earthworks art.
See the drafts for this piece in aaa, rsnhp, reel 3834, frames 405 and 407, which include the statements. For two years, he was enrolled at the art students league in new york and, for a briefer period, at the brooklyn museum school. Robert smithson 19381973 produced his bestknown work during the 1960s and early 1970s, a period in which the boundaries of the art world and the objectives of artmaking were questioned perhaps more consistently and thoroughly than any time before or since. Smithsons wife, nancy holt 1938 was a noted sculptor and filmmaker and also worked as an earthworks artist. Smithson documented the construction of the sculpture in a 32minute color film also titled spiral jetty. An examination of the interplay between cultural context and artistic practice in the work of robert smithson. From the greek entropia, meaning a return to the past. Time crystals is the first exhibition in australia dedicated to the work of american artist robert smithson 193873. Entropy andthe new monuments 1966 on nsmg to my feet. A coil of earth, salt, and stone that smithson built into great salt lake, utah, the piece is a tribute to the movements scale and engineering as well as to its visionary union of art and nature. Less remote than worringers gothic ornament forests or hulmes alexander nagel robert smithson removed from the source.
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