#michael heizer

[milksockets]

'frog effigy' + 'water strider,' of the "effigy tumuli sculptures" by michael heizer, 1983-5 in earthworks and beyond: contemporary art in the landscape - john beardsley (1989)

[youreyesdontglow]

[lascitasdelashoras]

Michael Heizer

[gregdotorg]

1 "Revolution" was the most often-used word I ran into this summer. Nobody used it to mean the transfer of political power from one class to another. Most of the time it seemed to refer to those activities which would most expeditiously bring America to her senses and force her to stop the war, end racism, and begin to take the lead among nations in rescuing the planet from the certain destruction toward which it is headed.

a footnote from Philip Leider's Artforum account of roadtripping with Richard Serra and Joan Jonas to see earth artworks in the Summer of 1970, from an excerpt published in Richard Serra Early Works (Steidl/David Zwirner, 2014)

[awidevastdominion]

Part of Michael Heizer's monumental sculpture City. Begun in 1972, the sprawling 1.5 miles long x 0.5 miles wide City finally opened on September 2, 2022 to limited, reservation-only viewing by a maximum of six visitors per day on a limited number of days. Submissions for reservations for this year (2024) are already closed.

[littlekiwi78]

Environmental Art

Roughly Ranges from 1965-Present

Environmental or Land Art rose from a desire to reconnect to the land and move art outside of the gallery.

-Smithson, Spiral Jetty (1970).

The Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake in Utah made by Robert Smithson is 1500 feet long and meant to be walked on. It provides an introspective exercise for those who interact and reconnects them with the environment.

-Heizer, Double Negative (1970)

Michael Heizer cut two trenches into the Norman Mesa in Nevada stretching over 1500 feet long. With machinery, Heizer cut gashes into the mesa to heighten its contours.

--Art such as this critiques the art world. It cannot fit in a museum or gallery, you cannot buy or sell it and it is not reserved for the elite. Art such as this conveys a phenomenological experience and integrates humanity with nature.

-Mendieta, Silueta Series (1973-79)

Ana Mendieta created her Silueta Series to display a different kind of environmental art in which rather than taking away from nature she adds herself to it. Mendieta collaborates with nature by inserting her body into the earth reconnecting with nature. Her process is much more personal as opposed to the prior two artists.

-Goldsworthy, Slate Arch (1982)

Andy Goldsworthy is a well-known environmental artist who often uses more ephemeral mediums for his creations. His art is made from found environmental objects such as ice, snow, rocks, or leaves. Nature provides the materials that he uses.

[arsonistmp3]

[thethirdbear]

[heaven-one]

New York City, 23 April 1985 at Mr. Chow restaurant: Michael Heizer, David Hockney, Leroy Nieman, Dennis Oppenheim, Stefano, Bill Wegman, John Chamberlain, Andy Warhol, Julian Schnabel, Armand Arman, Alex Katz, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Tony Shafrazi, Red Grooms, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, Robert MappleThorpe, Ronnie Cutrone, Sandro Chia. Plus: Nam June Paik, Jennifer Barlett, Jack Goldstein, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Les Levine, Sol Lewitt, Marisol, Peter Max, Meredith Monk, Larry Rivers, Survival Research Labs (Mark Pauline, Mat Heckert, Eric Berner), Mark van den Broek, Tom Wesselman and Greer Langton. © Michael Halsband /Landov

[kobikiyama]

Michael Heizer

[crownamedblue]

Art for no one

Inspired by Jacob Geller’s video essay of the same name

XxXxXxX

I cannot imagine a world where I do not play to an audience: I am the tree, fallen, in the forest, my sound echoing in the ears of those who pay witness, or else not echoing at all.

Art, to me, exists in the eye of the beholder, and so what of that art that spits in that eye? Not by way of drawing attention to itself, or to make a statement, but to hide itself away. This is no hidden grotto, meant only to be shared with those precious to the artist, but instead meant to be hidden entirely. An artist who creates for nobody is not indifferent to an audience, they will instead hoard and hide away their work, and for the life of me I cannot understand it.

The idea alone is maddening, it astounds and confounds me. I try and I try to understand, but all of me, everything I am, is so completely foreign to the idea. This is not something beautiful hidden away to be found later by an unassuming stranger, delighted at what they find, no, this is to be hidden away and rot, crumble into dust.

Art is a message, to me, from the artist to audience, but why must you insist on a complete lack of one? What is your message, and whose ear is it you whisper into? God? Yourself? Nature? What do you know that I don’t, how can you create and not wish to share your thoughts, your process, the finished work?

Did it bring you shame, that wonderful work I can only describe as a masterpiece? You spend half your life, you painted it upon the walls of your house, you’ll never feel the same way again and you must look at that paint constantly. You, who carved lines into stone, perfect curves and parallels, seen only by those who watch up above, long before your decendents touched the sky, who were you carving for?

Self motivation is all well and good, but even an artist most removed from their work will still showcase it, and even if that work was mere practice, surely it wouldn’t be hidden away? Do you feel our presence; our analyses and critiques; our thoughts and our actions; might ruin your piece? Do you feel that to allow your work to be perceived is to taint it, to somehow usher in imperfection? Is it a matter of pride? Of hubris? Of shame? I only wish to understand, but is that the very reason you keep it from me?

[milksockets]

'complex one/city' by michael heizer, 1972-6 in earthworks and beyond: contemporary art in the landscape - john beardsley (1989)

[yung-megs]

Michael Heizer around 1970

[hiyutekivigil]

michael heizer, lithograph with ballpoint pen additions, moma

[gregdotorg]

just a couple of things i'm seeing and hearing:

1970s Michael Heizer waving his sandblasting gun around to make Sandblasted Etched Glass Window: 2003 Pae White pouring solvent on sheets of Plexiglas to make Ghost and Host, among others; and 1970s Warhol and friends pissing on the canvas on the floor to make his oxidation paintings

[archiveofaffinities]

Michael Heizer, City, Complex 1, Garden Valley, Nevada, 1972-1974