Do you identify yourself as an environmental artist?
I’ve used the term environmental art. I’ve been coined an environmental artist. I want people to understand that the work has strong environmental themes in case they miss that. It’s not likely that they will, but just in case they have certain ignorance about the materials – just to make sure it brings to their attention the environmental issues. I don’t have a problem with the term ‘environmental artist’ or the notion of being part of an environmental movement.
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There are artists like Andy Goldsworthy, who has been called an environmental artist, who is coming from a completely different intention with the work from myself. Goldsworthy is a land artist. He uses natural materials to make environmentally responsible and sometimes ephemeral sculptures in the open air.
Goldsworthy works with natural materials from the locality in which his sculptures are located, develops organic shapes and has a very strong sense of place and heritage. The relationship between his work and its surroundings is transformed by the seasons, the weather, and environmental changes.
From an Artist Statement of Goldsworthy’s about the work ‘Stone House – Bonnington’: He says: “For many years I have wanted to make a work that acts as a geological window into the landscape. I have been waiting for a place where the bedrock lies close to the surface, but does not puncture it. Exposed rocky outcrops would reduce the sense of revelation that is part of the work. The soft and rolling landscape at Bonnington has provided the perfect context. It does not appear to be rocky and yet just below the surface lies stone.
A predecessor of Goldsworthy, with whom I have personally spoken with in New York, by the name of Alan Sonfist, has done similar work to Goldsworthy, who, as I mentioned on previous reference to his art, does the most amazing work with elements including wrapping autumn leaves around rocks so that they become red or yellow and after a few days when the weather blows it all off, it disappears. In that sense, Goldsworthy has been making art that is temporary. They, Goldsworthy and Sonfist, have been responding to nature in their work, in a way that brings people’s attention to the intrinsic beauty in nature.
As described on his web site, Alan Sonfist ‘engages with natural landscapes to evoke the hidden narrative of the Earth. His vision and green art projects cross borders to inspire ecological sensibility and conservation. His early work in the 1960s and 1970s helped pioneer the burgeoning movement of site-specific sculpture. Today, he continues to promote sustainable energy and strives to raise awareness for global climate change with his international projects.’
In his own words Sonfist says: “As we have entered the 21st century, we confront a new horizon of the way in which nature will interact with the urban environment; the essence of my art reaches to inspire a dialogue with urban dwellers regarding their impact on the Earth. Each one of my site-specific sculptures addresses the issues of its surrounding location as well as the land’s unique, natural heritage.”
Much of Sonfist’s life and career has been dedicated to creating site-specific, commissioned works. His art is cited for its ability to conjure and capture both the cultural and natural history of the site for which it is created.
It is relying on the environment and heightening people’s sense of the environment. So in that sense it is environmental art.
What I’m doing is environmental art through a different approach, creating beautiful works out of something that is not necessarily perceived as beautiful in its raw state. Once I’ve performed a certain alchemy with it, people’s awareness of the environment can be heightened.
It’s all about shifts in perception, helping people to have shifts in their perceptions and seeing things in new ways. Hopefully they can use those transformations to look at the environment and life in general in new and unusual ways that can improve their way of life.
