That subtle ridge is the edge of an exquisite slot canyon, the perfect metaphor for the beauty and enchantment that is hidden from our view Every time I spend time in the Great Basin desert, I feel an irrepressible sense of resonance. That soil is in me, energetically and literally (my mother being conceived in […]
Land/earth
- Books
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Another World, But Here
Paul Éluard, surrealist and poet, famously said, “There is another world, but it is in this one.” While culling through the Slow Muse archive, I also found the two quotes below from nature writer Ellen Meloy that weave into Éluard’s thread. Some of these are perennial themes: What it means to feel a sense of […]
- Land/earth
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Attention Flow
Sunrise over New York City as seen from the West Side In Alexandra Horowitz‘s new book, On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes, she explores the blocks around her home in New York City in the company of people with a particular expertise—an artist, a geologist, a self-professed “type nerd”, a field naturalist/insect advocate (among […]
Unvarnished
The pleasures of the minimal. Just the bare thing. Raw, open, essential. Unvarnished. Here are two minimal recent moments. One was indoors, at Carroll and Sons Gallery in Boston, and the other was the outdoors, in Utah. Damien Hoar De Galvan’s show, I Wish I had Something to Say, is like a cool drink in […]
- Aesthetics
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Landsatting
Circular fields of green on the desert sands of Saudi Arabia, watered by pivot irrigation (Photo: Corbis) Landsat image of Southern Nebraska Field in Wadi-el-Watan, Egypt, imaged by a SPOT satellite. The circular pattern shows where a centre-pivot irrigation system has been used to water crops. Source : Spot Image Midwest from the air Midwest […]
The Jetty in Winter
Spiral Jetty (Photo: Greg Lindquist) Greg Lindquist, a Brooklyn based artist, made a winter’s pilgrimage to the Spiral Jetty on January 2, Robert Smithson’s birthday. His photos and “trip report” can be read on Hyperallergic. As readers of this blog already know, this is a frequent pilgrimage spot for me. Lindquist’s photos of the Jetty […]
Spring Leaves the Station
A visual/verbal commentary on a few days in New York City, where spring has come and spread its gorgeousness everywhere. First on the list: The High Line, my favorite urban touchstone for seasonal drift. Two views looking south from 20th street—two months ago and this weekend: Comparing urban flora and fauna in February and then […]
Rice Paddy Art
A traditionalist and enchanting version of earthworks: Rice paddy art. Created by planting different varieties of rice, images appear over time. Examples of this technique first appeared in the early 1990’s, originally conceived as a local revitalization project. But the approach took on a life of its own and within a few years, computers were […]
Jars in Tennessee, Jetties in Utah
I continue to be caught up and compelled by the ongoing saga of the Spiral Jetty. It is a touchstone for so many compelling personal themes: the unique power that is an art pilgrimage site (Bilbao, the Ajanta Caves, Uluru in Australia–there are many art/sacred sites that also move me deeply); the geographic connection I […]
- Aesthetics
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Erin Hogan: Melding Gravitas with Whimsy
Erin Hogan A few weeks ago I posted a review of a new book on Slow Painting, Spiral Jetta by Erin Hogan. And now that I’ve finished reading the book I can recommend it without reservation to anyone who has interest in contemporary art, particularly land art, and who would enjoy a thoughtful adventure served […]