Art 308, Studio Sculpture

Molly Burtenshaw

Project 3- Site / Place
ARTIST RESEARCH

Robert Smithson

The enveloping idea behind Robert Smithson’s work was to break through the accepted confines of art. According to him, “The major issue now in art is what are the boundaries. For too long artists have taken the canvas and stretchers as given, the limits” (Renaissance Society). While Smithson did do drawings and exhibitions in museums, he is most famous for his “earthworks” – sculptures specifically situated in sites and created only from natural materials of the surrounding area. The visual effect of these works is reminiscent of the forces of nature and ancient archaeological sites (ArtandCulture).
Much of Smithson’s early work involved mirrors and reflective surfaces. In Enantiomorphic Chambers (1965) he references crystalline compounds whose molecular structures have a mirrored relationship to each other. This idea was utilized through actual mirrors to reflect the biological forms in a figurative and literal sense. The whole work became a type of metaphor for art in its relationship to how one sees in and through nature, as well as pointing out how often logic and rigid forms do not apply when dealing with nature (Answers.com).

Smithson also began to explore the aspect of entropy when working in natural sites, as well as focusing particularly on the location of a work in his series of creations entitled Site/Nonsite. Pieces from a site were gathered and brought into geometric bins which resembled maps of the original site, and these bins were then placed in a museum (Answers.com). The entire work was a play on the relationship between indoor or museum and outdoor or natural space, which Smithson later returned to through making models of his larger work.

Best known of these large-scale creations is the Great Salt Lake’s Spiral Jetty (1970). The piece was created only with black basalt rocks and earth from the site, yet the spiral is 1500 feet long (Dia). This work was homage to the deterioration of nature on outside works of art. Spiral Jetty is now submerged in rising lake waters, and is subject to other changes in temperature, light, wind and erosion. Smithson’s choice in sites is also very particular to the type of art he creates – impermanent structure of and subject to the will of the environment they are located in. “The idea of the city as an organic structure never appealed to me too much, and Frank Lloyd Wright's metaphors about the city being diseased didn't interest me too much," Smithson once said (ArtandCulture). His realm, subject and materials are completely and nothing but sites created without the influence of man, until Smithson himself comes along to move around some rocks and sand. Despite the works being so closely related to the sites they are in, they stand out as stunning art forms in their grand scale and complete alteration of the environment visually.

"ArtandCulture Artist: Robert Smithson." ArtandCulture. 26 Mar. 2008 <http://www.artandculture.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ACLive.woa/wa/artist?id=186>.
"Robert Smithson: Biography and Much More." Answers.Com. 26 Mar. 2008 <http://www.answers.com/topic/robert-smithson?cat=entertainment>.
"Robert Smithson: Spiral Jetty." Dia. Dia Art Foundation. 26 Mar. 2007 <http://www.spiraljetty.org/>.
"Robert Smithson, Mirror/Salt Works." The Renaissance Society At the University of Chicago. The Renaissance Society. 26 Mar. 2007 <http://renaissancesociety.org/site/Exhibitions/Essay.171.0.0.0.0.html>.
"Robert Smithson." MOCA. 13 Dec. 2004. The Museum of Contemporary Art. 26 Mar. 2007 <http://www.moca.org/museum/exhibitiondetail.php?&id=346>.
"Robert Smithson." Robert Smithson. James Cohan Gallery. 26 Mar. 2007 <http://www.robertsmithson.com/>.

Gordon Matta-Clark

The notion of site or space in Gordon Matta-Clark’s work is not just one of the location in which something exists, but the sites themselves are objects that are manipulated to interplay with the space around them. Much of his work revolves around the contrast between the space of buildings and homes, and the negative space he creates by removing certain sections of them.

During the 1970s, Matta-Clark created his most famous works: the "anarchitecture." These were temporary projects created by sawing and carving sections out of buildings, most of which were scheduled to be destroyed. The first large scale project of this sort was entitled Splitting (1974) (Guggenheim). The artist cut two parallel lines through floors and ceilings and walls of a suburban home, bringing out metaphors on the American family as well as the violence inherent in any act of construction (Ouroussoff). Later, in 1975, Matta-Clark created Conical Intersect in Les Halles in Paris, which consisted of a large hole through the entire building. This is a site where views of the Pompidou and the Eiffel Tower intersected, bringing out not only importance of the site of the object, but the entire context in which it is situated (Lefeuvre). Metaphors for ancient themes of Paris, including enlightenment ideals, are impossible to separate from the space.

Also in 1975, Days End was erected in a warehouse along the West Side piers in Manhattan. By cutting a big, eye-shaped opening in the back wall, light was allowed to spill into the cavernous interior. In addition to completely altering the nature of inside space by allowing the outside to have influence, Matta-Clark was commenting on the nature of the building as a regular haunt for S&M couples in the 1970 through his use of the eye cutting (Ouroussoff).

Both Smithson and Matta-Clark were dependent upon the location of their projects to convey meaning and purpose and to make their alterations “art”. Also, both were completely willing and encouraging of the natural or man-made changes and deteriorations of their work. By protecting any of their projects from outside forces, they would be separated from the sites that give them their purpose and context. Neither artist was interested in bringing outside elements into their spaces – Smithson only moved around natural and local objects and Matta-Clark was concerned only with removing portions of objects to make them something new. The objects and forms created on location were second in importance to the site itself. While the sand and rocks may wash away on the beach, and buildings will be destroyed, the meaning and symbolism behind Smithson and Matta-Clark’s work will live on through the sketched, photographed, and filmed records kept of the sites.

"Artist - Matta-Clark - Bibliography." Guggenheim Collection. Guggenheim Institution. 23 Mar. 2008 <http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_105A.html>.
Lefeuvre, Lisa. "The W-Hole Story." Art Monthly Apr. 2002. 26 Mar. 2007 <http://www.artmonthly.co.uk/lefeuvre.htm>.
Ouroussoff, Nicolai. "Timely Lessons From a Rebel, Who Often Created by Destroying." The New York Times 3 Mar. 2007. 26 Mar. 2007 <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/arts/design/03matt.html?pagewanted=1&ei =5088&en=40df522a795ff247&ex=1330578000&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>.
Smyth, Ned. "Gordon Matta-Clark." Artnet 10 Apr. 2004. 26 Mar. 2007 <http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/smyth/smyth6-4-04.asp>.