Comparison: Andy Goldsworthy, Christo and Jeanne Claude, Spencer Tunick
Nature could be considered the world's most powerful and influential artist. Standing at the junction of art
and nature are environmental artists, who are often balanced on an intermediary edge, searching and
synthesising creativity, unimagined new ways to redefine our relationship with nature, many of their work
can be defined as “environmental art”. One of the main characteristics of environmental art is that is
usually created for one particular place, cannot be moved, and obviously cannot be exhibited in museums
or galleries. But, there are exceptions, as environmental artists use a wide range of different techniques.
Andy Goldsworthy, Christo and Jeanne Claude, and Spencer Tunick are one of many artists that uses a
broad range of materials, techniques and processes in their work, sometimes combining traditional craft
with contemporary art and design in innovative ways. They choose to manipulate the materials of the
landscape by adding and removing natural materials in different ways to create a form of sculpture that
highlights the relationships between the actual site and the evidence of human intervention.
Andy Goldsworthy is a famous environmental artist who creates site-specific installations. He aims to
remind the world and help people notice nature once again and ponder all of its magical mysteries. By
creating sculptures, he is able to observe the effects of time in nature. Goldsworthy’s ephemeral
sculptures help reinforce the importance of understanding the reality of birth, life, death and rebirth.
Goldsworthy focused on using natural materials and the elements and principles of line, form, space,
texture and pattern, to create intricate sculptural forms, which are often built in natural environment. He
makes us aware of the colours, surfaces and textures in nature, contrasting the solid with the delicate or
transparent, often introducing a hole or curtain for us to look through. As he stated “Movement, change,
light, growth, and decay are the life-blood of nature, the energies that I try to tap through my work”,
Goldsworthy relies on what nature will give him, he ‘feels’ the energy from nature and transcends that
energy into an art form. He seeks to understand nature by directly participating in it, working with reeds,
twigs, leaves, flowers, grasses, stones, wood, pebbles, ice and snow.
Rather than building monumental constructions on or out of the land, Goldsworthy works almost
telepathically with nature, rearranging its natural forms in such a way as to enhance rather than detract
from their beauty. He tries to get beneath the surface of things by being aware of the energy and space
around an object as well as how weather conditions affects it.
Weather is an important factor in his work. Goldsworthy works in all kinds of conditions to make his
constructions. Given his work “Ice Spiral: Tree Soul” as an example, the ice spiral must be completed
bef...
