Friday, October 8, 2010

RESPONSE TO ANDY GOLDSWORTHY DOC

Please post your response to the documentary here by FRIDAY. THANKS!

12 comments:

  1. The part of the film that I thought was the most interesting was his use of line. He would be working in these very remote or quiet places, and then BOOM these very unnatural lines appear. Of course his lines were made from natural materials (leaves, sheep's wool, etc) but they were so striking to me that they seemed to force all attention to themselves. But this was a good thing, his work always made me more interested in the area that he was working, which I think was one of his intentions; to highlight the amazing characteristics of a place.
    On a somewhat separate note, I was also very interested in the interview portions of the film in which Goldsworthy was explaining his connection and his need to understand the places in which he works. The way in which he spoke made me feel that he was not only making these pieces to highlight the natural environment, but he needs to make these pieces in order to live. He needs to feel this connection between the flow of nature and himself, I think the flow of nature (his inspiration in rivers) helps me understand why he makes works that will eventually be undone by what inspired them.

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  2. What I find most interesting about Andy Goldsworthy is his ability to constantly work with whatever is around him, no matter where he is or what the weather is like. It almost seems more like a pathological tendency rather than a desire for him to create art and this is a very intense aspect of his art that comes out in his installations. I feel like for Andy, going somewhere new for a commission requires him to study the new environment down to the most minuscule of details and this is also reflected in his work; he often learns something deep and pensive about his new surroundings. The one aspect that stood out the most to me was how he always portrayed a flow in his works. More often than not, it appeared that he emphasized how life and time flow in and around us, exemplified by his icicle sculpture. The mortality of all of his works is also a shocking aspect in regards to what he creates and I have never really seen anyone create anything quite like what he has. I do notice several patterns in his works (i.e. flow, circles, materials) but somehow it all still retains a breath of fresh air, especially when I observed him in the process of creating these works and his frustration at watching his projects fall apart.

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  3. What really struck me about the A. Goldsworthy doc was the art through nature. In most cases, besides the cites of nature and calling them art, or beauty, I would not have thought of art in the sense of using natural materials. What was amazing to me was the flow that Goldsworthy created through the natural materials. He saw a flow in the environment like through water and woods and represented what he saw and felt through his work. He did not create a brand new piece that contrasted what the environment felt, rather he created a coexisting piece. By watching this Documentary I got a sense of what we are supposed to be creating for project #2, which I did not really understand before.

    Another interesting aspect of the film was the changes that the camera recorded. For example, when Goldsworthy created the rock formation, we were able to see the water rise and fall with the change of season while having a constant (the piece) to compare it to. The overall flow of nature and progression of season that moved along with the work, really stood out to me.

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  4. I found myself impressed with Goldsworthy's patience and commitment. He would carefully stake out his spot and gather his materials, and begin constructing his sculpture. In the documentary, when his stone sculpture fell apart in front of him, he did not get angry or frustrated. He just said that it meant that he didn't understand the stone yet, and that he had to keep working with it until he understood it. He tried several times to construct the sculpture, each time with it falling apart. He said that with each time that his sculpture fell apart, he started to understand the stone a little better.
    I also really liked how naturally each of his works blended in with its environment. None of the sculptures we saw looked out of place, and none of them had really harsh or unnatural lines.

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  5. The reason Andy Goldsworthy's art is so remarkable is that it takes artificiality - intelligently constructed patterns and structures - and places it within the chaos of nature. This of course makes his pieces jump out, even when they are well hidden as were some of his mossy, winding root pieces, and in general this offers us a fascinating look at our own perceptions of pattern and construction. But even if Goldworthy's art is fully man made, it is thoroughly composed of, inspired by, and commenting on natural elements of the world. This very fact plays with the interwoven duality of nature and the human need to try to make sense of nature, which seems to be at the core of Goldsworthy's art.

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  6. One of the most intriguing aspects of the art was that most of it was temporary. This characteristic and the organic nature of the materials seemed to add to the life-like quality of many of his pieces. The movement that was apparent in much of the work also helped give the art a life of its own. This was particularly striking in pieces that seemed simple, but once they were activated by water, they become much more powerful. Initially, something like a string of leaves, or a piece of iron does not strike me as something extraordinary. However, when these two materials were combined with water, they became entirely different objects.

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  7. It was interesting to see that Goldsworthy was able to make so many unique pieces of art using only items found at certain sites in nature. I was a bit suprised by the concept of making art that required so much time, effort, and creativity, yet was meant to only last temporarily. I didn't really understand this idea at first. I usually think of art as something more permanent. However,the documentary showed the destruction of the artworks in addition to thier creation. This made it seem that the way they were taken apart was a much a form of art as the way they were put together. I felt like watching the fate of the pieces of art symbolized how nature is strong, and how people and what they make are often powerless against it.

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  8. I really enjoyed the work of Andy Goldsworthy, because the time frame in which his art work lasted is varied. I liked that he was able to make creative and beautiful works of art using what was around him in nature. I especially enjoyed his work he made with the icicles on the rock and his works that involved the dandelions. His inspiration of the flow of water was very evident in all his works. He kept rebuilding his stone structures even when they kept falling down. Also, he found the rock that he ground up to make the red color for some of his works of art. These two examples show how he tries to understand what he was working with in order to create his art. This film was interesting, because the process in which his art was created was documented, which allowed for his work to be more appreciated.

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  9. Andy sure as an affinity for anything that he can mold into a wavy shape, that's for sure. He really proves how flexible nature is, not only in malleability but in its ability to be reshaped and repurposed for something that would not be readily apparent. I thought the way he constructed the ice sculpture on the rock was genius, using partially melted snow as an adhesive.

    The constant temporary theme in his works and the extreme personal importance and devotion to his works makes me think that Goldsworthy wants to emphasize that life is temporary and we should make the most of it however we can. For Goldworthy, it's by making art through nature. Curiously, he might actually be immortalized in name for his works.

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  10. I found the ice sculpture to be the most amazing of his pieces. His idea of bringing out what is already there is interesting to say the least. I personally could not imagine putting in hours and hours of work, just to see it fad infront of your eyes. Watching the rocks crumble was both comical and painful in that way.

    His rants on the nature of what was around him were at times insightful, but he would always revert back to things being unexplainable via words which frustrated me a bit. What he lacked in speech, was compencated with his skill in art. I can not say enough how awsome the ice reflecting the sun apperared on camera.

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  11. It seemed like Goldsworthy was compulsively making his work, like it was something that drove his life. I liked that he took and kept photographs of all of his artwork, good and bad, and kept them together in no particular order. It made me feel like he was very aware of his process, and he kept trying to reinvent ideas without being redundant.

    I really liked that a huge part of his pieces were not simply what he created, but rather how his pieces interacted with their environment. The stone and brick cones were made much more complete by nature; the tide coming in to cover the cone and the field growing around the cone to obscure, and the cone that was only visible for a moment in a crevice in the cliff were somehow much more complete and powerful than the cone that was awkwardly placed in an office building.

    It was interesting to see how he constructed work that was left to chance, and interacted with its environment. It really made me think about making artwork more freely, in a way that artwork isn't a thing but more a contribution.

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  12. What both amazed and shocked me with Goldsworthy's work was the short lived life of most of his works, and the patience he possessed in order to create most of his works. Each work was an experiment to him. He pushed the materials to their limit, sometimes causing the sculptures to break before they were even completed. However, when they worked, they temporarily exhibited a sense of delicate balance before they collapsed,especially the weaving ice sculpture made with icicles. The transience of his pieces is what makes many of have their impact.

    The temporary nature of many of his pieces also helps define his purpose with the artwork. For him, it is an interaction between him and the landscape. The process is just as important if not more than the result. By creating artwork with the natural materials around him, Goldsworthy learns about and interacts with the landscapes around him. It is a silent conversation. This is all a huge part of why he documents all of his work, both good and bad. Every single work is photographed, and they are all put next to each other in no particular order. These photographs are his social network: they represent all the sites that he has connected with.

    Goldsworthy's private, meaningful way of approaching art reflects our needs and desires to bond with whats around us. I love how his personal curiosity is reflected in his art, and I love how he uses his art to better understand the place in which he resides. It is very different than the conventional concept of art as a form of expression on paper, canvas, or a sculpture in museum. Goldsworthy made me realize that art can be expressed in many ways, and just because a piece does not last thousands of years does not make it any less special or meaningful.

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