^ Artworks by Andy Goldsworthy
Andy Goldsworthy Questions
- Explain how Goldsworthy’s work can be seen as a reaction against traditional forms and conventions of art?
- How does Goldsworthy use the elements of time in his work? How does this add meaning to the work?
- What systems, processes and materials does Goldsworthy explore and feature in his work?
Goldworthyy's systems, processes and materials featured and explored in his work are very basic, elementary and natural. He uses only raw or natural materials and processes to create his work, in order to leave no permanent or damaging mark on the environment. He uses objects, colours, tones and shapes that can be found in a forest and creates beautiful natural works with them. Most of the time, Andy Goldsworthy restricts himself to the selecting, displacing or rearranging of leaves, pebbles, sticks and boulders and using only found instruments, such as sharp stones or teeth to create marks on stones, etc. Often, he lets nature work on its own, for example, letting icicles freeze together, to form an icicle star, without the intervention of any instrument.
- Why does Goldsworthy use circles, lines and spirals in his work?
Andy Golsworthy use circles, lines and spirals in his work because his ability to replace the chaos, of nature, with order, draws the audiences attention. The shapes, lines and spirals in his work are very basic, and in that sense, remind us of nature, however, nature is often disorderly and therefore it grabs the audience's attention when Goldsworthy has composed his art into ordered shapes and lines. For example, Goldsworthy replaces the chaotic pile of leaves on the forest floor, with a circle of colour ordered leaves that progresses from light to dark. Or he may replace sticks fallen at random, on the ground, with a circle or a line. His work seems to cause contrasting thoughts, because they are artificial figures placed against a natural background. The lines, cracks, spirals, spheres and eggs, are all compositions that can be found in nature, but only when applied in different contexts with other materials in nature. Such as, a crack that forms on a rock, that is not unnatural, however, Goldsworthy's composition of a crack that runs through 5 different rocks is unnatural. Goldsworthy's use of circles, lines and spirals draws the audience's attention because it causes contrasting thoughts of nature and artificial structures.
- Why is documentation important in Goldsworthy’s work?
- Do you think that Goldsworthy’s work is beautiful? Explain why or why not.
- Do you think there is a political message in Goldsworthy’s work? If you do… what do you think it is?