Environmental art
Environmental art is the range of contemporary practices that take the environment - land, water, weather, ecosystems and the human place within them - as material, site and subject. It grew out of the land art and ecological art of the late 1960s and 1970s, when artists such as Robert Smithson moved beyond the gallery to work at landscape scale, and it now spans earthworks, restoration ecology, public projects and climate-focused work. Some pieces simply place form in a landscape; others intervene in natural processes or set out to repair damaged sites. What unites them is that the setting is never background: the work addresses its site, its ecology and often the viewer's responsibility toward both.
Defining characteristics
- The site is the work: location, ecology and weather shape the piece
- Natural materials - earth, stone, water, living plants - often replace studio media
- Landscape scale, experienced by walking through or around the work
- Process and change over time (growth, erosion, decay) are part of the piece
- Ecological or political engagement: attention to sustainability and environmental damage
Key figures
- Robert Smithson (1938-1973) — Land-art pioneer whose earthworks joined geology and art
- Agnes Denes (b. 1931) — Ecological artist known for monumental public wheatfield and forest works
- Andy Goldsworthy (b. 1956) — Sculptor of ephemeral interventions made from natural materials on site
Example works
- Spiral Jetty — Robert Smithson (1970)
- The Lightning Field — Walter De Maria (1977)
Sources
- Environmental art - Wikipedia encyclopedia