Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy, OBE, ( born July 26, 1956 in Cheshire, England) is an artist who naturally occurring materials to create his most ephemeral works quickly and uses these documented with the aid of photography. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the Nature Art, a variant of the Land Art

Life and work

Andy Goldsworthy is the son of F. Allin Goldsworthy (1929-2001), a professor of applied mathematics at the University of Leeds. He spent his childhood in the rural county of Yorkshire. From 1974 to 1975 he studied at Bradford College of Art from 1975 to 1978 from the Preston Polytechnic, since 1992 incorporated into the University of Central Lancashire. There he took less and less part in the seminar operation, instead he moved to the nearby coast of the Irish Sea, where he made his first experiments in and with natural materials.

Goldsworthys works are characterized by their transience. He works exclusively with natural materials he finds on the spot, such as stones, petals or wood - always without artificial " -created by man " means. For attaching leaves and branches he uses only thorns and sticks or grass fibers and documented its partly dared fragile works of art with artistic high quality photographs; he scatters petals for example in a river, making it just before the final melting away with his Hasselblad camera. Another example is the photo Forked twigs in Water - Bentham (1979).

In another work, he leaves at the beach arranged elaborate shell spirals of the flood and they are thus back to the sea. It is not his intention to leave traces in nature, rather it is the artifacts back to nature again. He demonstrates her beauty as it combines harmoniously composed objects to their shapes and colors for a few hours, but then leaves the natural destruction. For Goldsworthy also a hidden mysticism of the place and its spiritually influenced perceptions play a major role, he can be influenced by its environment and will also experience the place itself as an artwork (leave ).

The hitherto most spectacular demonstration of his art for him was held in London, as he the day of the summer solstice in 2001 transported thirteen large snowballs with cooling cars in the city and those distributed on the streets of London. He watched the reactions of the people and the passing away of snow, his day's labor is documented in the book of photographs summer snow.

Goldsworthy was married to Judith Gregson since 1982 and the couple have four children. After his separation, he lived for several years until he met his new life partner, the art historian Tina Fiske, who initially helped organize the inventory of his shots him. He lives with her in Scotland ( Penpont, Dumfries and Galloway ).

Reception

It was his art books and less his exhibitions that made Goldsworthy a silent star of the international art scene. In his studio he archived all recordings of his works, which he has already made in Scotland, USA, France, Japan, at the North Pole and in Australia.

Goldsworthy and particularly his work was in the 90 - minute documentary Rivers and Tides (Eng. flow of time ) portrayed by the Munich filmmaker and cinematographer Thomas Riedelsheimer. The camera observes the manufacturing process of Goldworthys Land Art in four countries and four seasons. The film received among others the German Camera Award in 2001 and the Prize of the German Film Critics 2001. The soundtrack was provided by Fred Frith.

Awards

Quotes

" I find some of my new works disturbing, as I find nature as a whole just disturbing. The landscape is Often Perceived as pastoral, pretty, beautiful - something to be enjoyed as a backdrop to your weekend before going back to the nitty -gritty of urban life. But anybody who works the land knows it 's not like that. Nature can be harsh - difficult and brutal, as well as beautiful. You could not walk five minutes from here without coming across something did is dead or decaying. "

"One of the beauties of art is did it Reflects on artist's Entire Life. What I've learned over the past 30 years is really beginning to inform what I make. I hope I did until the process Continues. "

Publications

• Andy Goldsworthy. Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-86150-128-7 ( picture book )
• Summer snow. Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt am Main, 2002 ( picture book )
• Passage. Zweitausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-86150-645-9 ( picture book )

• Rain, Sun, Snow, Hail, Mist, Calm: Photoworks by Andy Goldsworthy. Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture, Leeds, 1985, ISBN 0-9019-8124-9.
• Parkland. Yorkshire Sculpture Park, [ Yorkshire ], 1988, ISBN 1-8714-8000-0.
• Touching North. Fabian Carlsson, London, 1989, ISBN 0-9482-7406-9.
• Leaves. Common Ground, London, 1989, ISBN 1-8703-6407-4.
• Andy Goldsworthy. Viking, London, 1990, ISBN 0-6708-3213-8. Republished as Andy Goldsworthy: A Collaboration with Nature. H.N. Abrams, New York, N. Y. 1990, ISBN 0-8109-3351-9.
• Ice and Snow Drawings: 1990-1992. Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh 1992, ISBN 0-947912-06-1.
• Andy Goldsworthy, Terry Friedman: Hand to Earth: Andy Goldsworthy Sculpture, 1976-1990. H.N. Abrams, New York, N. Y. 1993, ISBN 0-8109-3420-5.
• Stone. Viking, London 1994, ISBN 0-6708-5478-6.
• Black Stones Red Pools: Dumfriesshire winter 1994-5. Pro Arte Foundation in association with Michael Hue - Williams Fine Art Ltd.. & Galerie Lelong, NY, London 1995, ISBN 0-9525-4570-5.
• Andy Goldsworthy, Steve Chettle; Paul Nesbitt & Andrew Humphries: sheepfolds. Michael Hue - Williams Fine Art Ltd., London 1996.
• Wood. Viking, London 1996, ISBN 0-6708-7137-0.
• Andy Goldsworthy, David Craig: Arch Thames & Hudson, London 1999, ISBN 0-5000-1933-9.
• Time. Thames & Hudson, London 2000, ISBN 0-5005-1026-1.
• Midsummer Snowballs. Thames & Hudson, London 2001, ISBN 0-5005-1065-2.
• Andy Goldsworthy: Refuges D'Art. Editions Artha; Musée Departmental de Digne, Lyon; Digne, France 2002, ISBN 2-8484-5001-0.
• Passage. Thames & Hudson, London 2004, ISBN 0-5005-1191-8.
• Enclosure. Thames & Hudson, London 2007, ISBN 0-5000-9336-9.