Richard Serra's "Shift"

Earthworks threatened by development is a popular theme in the art world news of late. Tyler Green at Modern Art Notes talks about Serra's seminal early work here.



Photo by Shawn Micallef.

The "Uniform" - What Smithson, Holt, Heizer, & Turrell Wore When Creating These Works

Finding what Robert Smithson wore was really easy. He doesn't look like he belongs in this space at all. There are two outfits (what do you think about combining them both or one take the role of the waiters and the other the black "I'm a NY artist" look?).


Smithson with Richard Serra, 1970


Smithson and the Construction of Spiral Jetty, 1970


Smithson and his waiters (I call, "Not It" on wearing this one)


I cannot find anything (as of yet) on what Nancy Holt wore. I surmise that this is her in the views of Sun Tunnels but cannot be certain. Whatever she is wearing, she is NOT trying to be a cowgirl or cowboy for that matter.

This is the Nancy Holt we will not be emulating:




Heizer is also easy to find. Here he is with Robert Smithson in Nevada in 1968 (I am counting on finding a white cowboy hat). Here's a more recent headshot.



And James Turrell... Oh! The black cowboy ensemble! Maybe you can buy the white gear and I'll buy the black and we'll really be covering a lot of territory.



What is so odd is that I really want them to be wearing something like in Richard Prince's Untitled Cowboys photograph from 2003. Dream on.



Of course we can always dump the whole idea and go looking like this:

Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA July 2008

Expectation vs. Reality


















When I first learned about earthworks in Cheryl Shurtleff's Contemporary Art History summer crash course, I remember her referring to Western Washington University in Bellingham. It was known for commissioning earthworks artists to create pieces for the campus that were smaller scale representations of what they would "show" in remote places (at least in the case of Nancy Holt). My friend Cass and I traveled there in July 2008 and what we found was ultimately disappointing. A new building under construction left the Nauman and Holt pieces inaccessible (two of the top three I wanted to see). The above photographs show the closest I could get without trespassing (not that that's been an issue in the past - ahem).

I most wanted to see Robert Morris's Untitled (Steam Work for Bellingham) but it was far too warm a day for that. Wishing I could see the artworks as they were depicted in the Sculpture Collection guide (as viewed above) became the common theme.

I'm always interested in viewing Richard Serra's site specific sculptures including the early, far less monumental works like the one of Anita Powell featured below at Kentuck Knob in Chalk Hill, Pennsylvania. Blatantly touching them is not something I normally do but when they are presented outdoors in a public setting, knowing full well that a myriad of other people leave their oils and graffiti all over them, manhandling them became irresistible.