Passage
by Andy Goldsworthy
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Book Summary Information
Author: Andy GoldsworthyEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-11-01
ISBN: 0810955865
Number of pages: 168
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Book Reviews of Passage
Book Review: A modern naturalist
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first heard of Goldsworthy my temptation was to label his art as New Agey because of his interaction with natural mediums and his works' outdoor settings. This would have been a gross mislabeling. I've also heard the term "environmental artist" bandied about, but that is just far too vague and I'm hoping we don't adopt that as part of our art-appreciation vocabulary. I think Goldsworthy and Christos are grouped together under that title, but they couldn't be more dissimilar. Christos' works always so statement oriented and meant to be observed from a distance, while Goldsworthy's evocative sculptures and leaf paintings invite you to examine them more closely and admire how well they fit into the landscape. And though his art is made from natural materials and dependent on the elements, the works themselves are very modern. Passage was the first book of Goldsworthy's work that I've been given, though I've seen some of his smaller pieces and photos in several galleries.
His moss covered stones surrounded by sun-blindingly bright leaves in perfect auras make me examine my walks through the park in new ways. He uses sticks and stones and leaves the way James Turrell uses light and corners and openings, letting you rediscover the things you may have taken for granted. Beautiful and painstaking work. Yet accessible. After reading this, you'll be tempted to go outside and create your own sculptures. Passage offers some commentary by Goldsworthy and as well as diary entries and curators' comments. But the pictures make the book. Many of his works are photographed at different times of day or year and because they are dependent on their environment, the pieces change dramatically. Very beautiful.
Summary of Passage
Andy Goldsworthy's Passage focuses on the journeys that people, rivers, landscapes, and even stones take through space and time. A cairn made by the renowned sculptor in the Scottish village where he lives reveals the influence that his work close to home has on projects he creates elsewhere. A series involving elm trees, from glowing yellow leaves to dead branches, exemplifies his work's vigorous beauty as well as its association with death and decay. Creations on the beach and in rivers explore the passage of time, while a white chalk path investigates the passing from day into night.Passage also includes the Garden of Stones, a Holocaust memorial at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, where the artist planted 18 oak trees through holes in hollowed-out, earth-filled boulders. Documenting these and other recent works, this beautiful book is an eloquent testament to Goldsworthy's determination to deepen his understanding of the world around him, and his relationship with it, through his art. AUTHOR BIO: Andy Goldsworthy's work is regularly exhibited in Britain, France, the United States, Japan, and elsewhere. Although commissions take him all over the world, the landscape around his home in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, remains at the heart of his work. Goldsworthy's best-selling books for Abrams include A Collaboration with Nature, Time, Stone, Wall, and Wood. Terry Friedman is an architectural historian and former principal keeper of Leeds City Art Gallery and Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture in Leeds, England. He curated the first major retrospective of Goldsworthy's work, in 1990.
To achieve the quiet beauty of his art, Andy Goldsworthy spends long hours in rough weather, engaged in a tug-of-war with nature. He wrestles heavy stones on top of one another to form tall, egg-shaped landmarks known as cairns. He painstakingly covers fallen logs with bright golden bands of Dutch elm leaves?a last hurrah for a proud species decimated by disease. He pulverizes white chalk to lay a long, wandering path in the woods that gleams in the moonlight. Works like these are as much about the transience of life as they are about a sense of place and the pleasures of color, light and form. In Passage, the British artist's latest book, he once again provides diary excerpts that chronicle his daily successes and failures. The lush color photographs he takes to document peak moments of the birth, glory and decay of his art are as beautiful as ever. Unlike the other books, however, Passage--which begins in 2000 and darts back and forth over the next few years--is shadowed by a more urgent sense of mortality. Goldworthy's recently deceased father is in his thoughts, and a major project he tackles is the memorial Garden of Stones for the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. The garden's giant boulders pose many difficulties--finding the right ones, acquiring them, moving them, experimenting with cutting processes and coping with the elderly stonecutter's frequent tantrums. Hollowed out, the stones will be filled with trowels of earth (a ritual recalling burial) and tiny oak saplings, symbolic of life. "The partnership between tree and stone will be stronger for the tree having grown from the stone, rather than being stuck into it," Goldsworthy writes in his straightforward style. (An essay about this project by the historian Simon Schama, previously published in The New Yorker, is one of several pieces by other writers included in the book.) Once again, Goldsworthy succeeds in showing how seemingly simple ideas and actions can deeply engage both natural forces and human emotions. ?Cathy Curtis
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