Artist5: Andy Goldsworthy

 
Andy Goldsworthyis a Scottish nature sculptor, using stone, ice, plant, and anything else he can find in the landscape around him to create his art. Through his work, he attempts to connect with and understand his materials, thereby understanding nature more completely. In the movie Rivers and Tides (really cool documentary...it's on Netflix, if you want to see more about him) he mentions his 'dialogue' with the rocks. He communicates with his material in the most basic way, using the properties of said material to contact his environment. He finds the processes of nature to be analogous to everything (including other natural processes), using one part of nature to understand another part of nature or, at times, existence as a whole (e.g. tides analogous to seasons >> seasons analogous to human life/death >> etc). Along with the aspects of nature, his work also deals with the ideas of time, impermanence, and the transfer of energy between organisms. Some of his sculptures have stood for years, while others collapse or are swept away only moments after he has completed them. He rarely uses tools other than his hands in both the creation and maintenance of his sculptures. Most of his work holds itself together with only balance, gravity, and the other natural properties of the material holding its pieces together.

Goldsworthy's focus on transience is especially striking and, in many ways, parallels the sand sculptures of Tibetan monks. The monks will work for days on individual grains of colored sand, creating, over several hours or days, designs with the sand. They will then sweep the sand away, attempting to grasp the concept of constant change and force themselves to abandon emotional attachment with their work (video of monks). Goldsworthy's work parallels this thought process in many ways, allowing natural forces - the tide, wind, sunlight - to 'sweep away' his sculptures, though embraces the emotion produced by his work.

Andy Goldsworthy's work focuses on the basics, using on what is in front of him to understand and become part of his environment. He takes the otherwise normal and mundane objects that surround us and uses those objects to create a sort of visual and physical representation of the processes he goes through trying to appreciate the world.