Reflect on the ways in which works by Andy Goldsworthy and Agnes Martin challenge the viewer to think about the passing of time, the external world around us, and the sensitivity of touch that for which these artists are known.
Due Wednesday, October 10th
Due Wednesday, October 10th
Andy Goldsworthy and Agnes Martin pay particular close attention to the delicate process and material that they use in their art work, even if both use completely opposite mediums—Martin paints, and Goldsworthy sculpts with found natural objects. Martin’s work, even though it might seem from a shallow view that it’s just a bunch of simple painted lines, is incredibly thought provoking about the concept of time. Her paintings take constant meticulous attention and so time labor intensive, such as the painting above title “Stars.” Martin uses her work to get away from the craziness of the fast passed world that we live in; to be able to take the time and commitment of the work to make sure her grids are virtually perfect is commendable. Goldsworthy’s pieces deal with the delicate process of objects he finds in nature: leaves, rocks, branches, ice, etc. He takes the items as they are and shapes/arranges them into pristine & aesthetic forms. He isn't going after just the aesthetics though; his works disintegrate after time passes and he knows that they won’t stay or survive in the environment. As he said in the Art 21 interview, his works are meant to be fleeting, and once they do, he considers it as nature taking back/him giving his work back to nature.
ReplyDeleteBoth Andy Goldsworthy and Agnes Martin are closely influenced by the natural cycle of the environment. Both artist's connect with nature through both their materials and their intended message. For Goldsworthy, the natural cycle of growth and decay is incredibly influential for his site-specific land art. Goldsworthy takes his work to the farthest moment of its growth before it collapses, thus experiencing nature's growth through his own work. Luckily, photographs are able to capture this growth process and preserve his work at its most spectacular moment. Through this fulfillment of the natural cycle, Goldsworthy is able to successfully show the passing of time in the environment. Martin also captures this in her works. While they may seem minimalist, her small flaws within her grid works mimic a natural connection. Her spiritual beliefs in Taoist doctrines also contribute a natural influence to her abstract expressionist work. As with Goldsworthy, the connection to nature allows Martin to simulate life's spiritual and natural path. Overall, the affect of her works is to call attention to a spiritual connection to the growth cycle and one's personal connection to a life planned out within an abstract grid.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the artists use different methods, the works of both Agnes Martin and Andy Goldsworthy illustrate a connection to the natural world through the progression of time. Agnes Martin makes intricate grid-like patterns on large canvases; she repetitiously places the ruler, creates a line, then moves the ruler for another line. Because this process repeats over and over until she considers the work a finished product, her work shows a progression of time from the start of a single line to the end result of a full-formed grid. To Martin, this seemingly monotonous activity allows an escape from her hectic daily life to a calm, inner place that can be compared to the peace of nature. Goldsworthy is more literal in his connection to nature because he completes his art in outdoor environments and utilizes natural elements from that particular area. He delicately uses the elements to create temporary forms that are only preserved through photograph. As David said, "Goldsworthy takes his work to the farthest moment of its growth before it collapses," giving direct reference to the continuous growth and eventual decay of nature that occurs over a period of time.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Agnes Martin and Andy Goldsworthy have very different approaches for creating art, they both address the concept of the passing of time. Agnes Martin is an American painter who creates precise, time consuming, rational grids. The time consuming process to create this seemingly perfect graphs acts as an escape from the hectic world. I feel that looking at Martin’s work and understanding her process allows for viewers to experience the calming experience, a step out of time where life’s chaos and worries are put on hold.
ReplyDeleteLike Martin, Andy Goldsworthy also creates works that challenge the passing of time in his environmental sculptures. Goldsworthy works with natural materials found in his environment and manipulates them in a simplistic and beautiful way. He studies the physical embodiments of his materials and assesses the relationships the materials have to each other. His works are not meant to withstand the test of time and effects of the environment, but rather time serves to continue to shape and develop his works. Although his works may decay or crumble, all his works still exist in some form.
Martin’s works encourage the viewer to take a step back from their busy lives and experience a time of calm and enjoyment. Goldsworthy’s works encourage the viewer to embrace the natural state of change that effects all things and change and adapt to these changes.
Like almost everyone has already stated, I too believe that though both Andy Goldsworthy and Agnes Martin produce very different works of art yet still create commentaries on the passing of time. Through Goldsworthy’s ephemeral and time sensitive creations, he calls attention to the passing time. For example, in the Art21 video he constructs a snake-like structure that seems to weave through a rock out of icicles. By creating works that are not meant to last, passing from museum to museum or collection to collection and by taking into account natural time tellers such as the sun and the tides, Goldsworthy creates a commentary on the fleeting nature of time and, as Anastasia pointed out, encourages the viewer to embrace the inevitable changes that occur in life.
ReplyDeleteAccessing a meditative outlook on time, Agnes Martin’s painted grids draw the mind to the passing of time through their construction. The meditative quality of Martin’s works is present in both the process of their creation, these precise grids being the result of hours and hours of labor, as well as the viewer’s consumption of the images. Martin’s calming canvases are meant to clear the mind and anyone who engages with her work will experience just that. The repetition that exists in her works gives them a hypnotic quality that results in one marveling at the amount of patience and the invested time of the artist. While Goldsworthy’s works bring the viewer to think about embracing change, Martin’s paintings allow the viewer to experience calmness in light of the changing times.
ReplyDeleteThough vastly different in their mediums, Andy Goldsworthy and Agnes Martin have strikingly similar messages and approaches to their artwork. Agnes creates intricately simple grid-like paintings while Goldsworthy works with site-specific environmental installations. How could two things could be more different? Yet, when you break their work down to its bare bones, the message is nearly the same.
As we learned in class, Martin’s work is a meditative act centered on the formal qualities of line, balance, and shape. As she paints, her goal is to bring peace both to herself (through the repitition of her movements) as well as the viewer (through the openness of interpretation within the painting). By creating tiny, perfect strokes over and over again, she challenges the viewer to think about the passing of time as well as sensitivity of human touch. Goldsworthy approaches this idea in a totally different way by creating pieces that are so fragile (contingent on the elements of wind, rain, sun) that they can self destruct at any moment. They aren’t meant to last forever. In this way, Goldsworthy also comments on the passing of time and the peaceful, meditative quality of doing something over and over again. His work also focuses on the formal elements of line, balance, and shape, like Martins, and challenges the viewer to think about the way we interact with the everyday elements (external world) around us.
I think Caty's description of Goldsworthy and Martin, how their mediums couldn't be more different, but their messages the same, is pretty dead on. I think that's one of the great things about contemporary art. An idea can be manifested in so many different ways, and artists that are seemingly so different can be talking about the same thing through their work. Anyway, both artists work make the viewer contemplate the passing of time. Goldsworthy's work does so a bit more literally than Martin's work, since his works are so site and time specific. The melting of the icicles for instance, or the picking of the reeds and then having them change colors as they decompose. Martin's work takes a more abstract path. The large grids that are seemingly so perfectly constructed will awe the viewer. Sameness and repetition are peaceful and also meditative. The repetition seen in both artists' work also works to create a peaceful and reflective atmosphere in one's mind. The tediousness of these artists' work also speaks to the delicateness of their hands which further reinforces ideas of time passing and meditation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Caty that these two artists could not be more different, but their messages the same. I agree with Andrew that Goldsworthy is more literal, since his works are site and time specific.
ReplyDeleteAgnes Martin was interested in the most simple, powerful things. She was a formalist who believed in beauty and perfection. She felt her work had an abstract form and it had no ego. She was part of the abstract-expressionist group that believed anything can be painted without representation. She lived with Georgia O’Keefe who certainly affected her work. She practiced the exploration of the sublime, the terrifying awe inspired unfamiliar. These were things that are terrifying because they are unknowable. She tried to find inner peace. She felt being alone was meditative for the notion of order out of chaos. Her work demands work from the viewer which was very subtle.
Goldsworthy’s film explained that good art keeps you warm. He was trying to make something that is effortless by incorporating the thing that brings it life will cause its death.
Peter
As some background, formalism is where the aesthetic values can stand alone and judgments are detached from ethical and social considerations. Formalist art is concerned with purely compositional and abstract qualities and the arrangements of line, shape, and color. Agnes Martin was a formalist artist.
ReplyDeleteMartin’s primary concern was with form. She worked with radical abstraction, a belief in the artistic process and aesthetic experience, and strove for the sublime. The sublime is thought of as a terrifying, awe-inspiring, unruly, invigorating, surprising and unfamiliar. She followed the Taoist concept, which encouraged her to “look within and be guided by her own mind and soul” (132). This connects to the natural world in some ways. Martin also wanted her work to represent the pursuit of perfection, happiness and beauty, say some critics.
Even though Martin’s work looks very linear, and grid-like, there is a tremendous amount of thought put into the work. As I found when we did the activity in class imitating her style of work, her style brings about a meditative process. She gets away from the busy world we live in, and creates order and beauty in her seemingly perfect paintings.
Goldsworthy, on the other hand, was an environmental sculptor who created site-specific environmental sculptures. He works with shapes and forms considering him to be a formalist. He uses natural resources to create outdoor works, this meaning that they are also temporary, and for that matter deal with the passing of time. He is aware that his works only last as long as nature allows, but continues to work with this medium. Along with the short lifetime of his works, his great attention to detail is astounding.
His art, such as the sculpture made of icicles is temporary due to the rising sun, is also representative of the sensitivity of touch that both artists possess.