Another way of expressing environmental issues in art has been successfully done by the British artist Andy Goldsworthy. He has become known as an environmental artist with his work reflecting what nature does over a period of time. In one example of his work, he covered a boulder with damp; very brightly coloured autumn leaves in the midst of a landscape, which he then documented in the form of photographs. The work over the following days disintegrated as nature took its course and the leaves dried out and either fell or were blown away from the boulder by the wind.
These works are beautiful and ephemeral by their nature. He has also been known to make site-specific carvings from ice, then document these carvings, and let them melt and disappear. His work is a good reminder of the inherent beauty of nature and the transience of all things on this planet.
There are different ways off incorporating environmental messages into the work we do, which categorize us as environmental artists. Three examples that I’ve mentioned above which include my own work, show three completely different ways of expressing the environment, our concern, our love and our awe of the natural world around us. The following few chapters will reveal in fuller depth the world of environmental art.
The term environmental art is used in different contexts: It can be used generally to refer to art dealing with ecological issues which my own work deals with and/or the natural, such as the formal, the political, the historical, or the social context.
Depending upon how you look at its definition, earlier examples of environmental art stem from landscape painting and representation. When artists painted onsite they developed a deep connection with the surrounding environment and its weather and brought these close observations into their canvases.
