Landscape, Art and the Artist

Congratulations to TGO magazine for their feature on the work of artist Andy Goldsworth in the current issue. Actually, congratulations to Emily Rodway Deputy Editor for I remember Cameron once talking about a Landscape Art event had had to judge and admitting that he didn’t really understand it!

Goldsworth’s work is really something special. There is, of course, a long tradition that connects the artist and the land that goes way beyond the landscape painting.

Some of our best known places really began as works of arts. Think of the work of Capability Brown in painstakingly crafting the ideal ‘natural’ landscape, a work of art that looked as if it was the simple product of nature. Or what about the park at Versailles which to my mind is a far greater achievement than the house itself, which I find to be a bit tacky and distinctly unimpressive (I’m not sure I really like that amount of gold). The gardens are a magnificent achievement. Louis XIV decreed that nothing should spoil the view to the horizon. Farmsteads were demolished or relocated and all new building on the natural skyline was forbidden as it still is today. The view from the house over the gardens of Versailles will never be spoilt be the work of any hack developer and — I suppose — will never be spoiled by the sight of a wind turbine!

To be honest these grand works are not really my cup of tea for often humble agricultural tradition can do it better. I remember one hot summer’s evening in South West France, ambling down lonely lanes that ran along a high ridge. I gazed out on a wonderful patchwork of fields, woodlands full of game, cattle in some places and tall plots of maize and sunflower in others. I took a series of wonderful photographs that I printed in black and white. Sadly, both the photographs and the negatives are long gone. But I can still remember the scene. For my money it was every bit as good as a Capabilty Brown. You also see a similar effect in, say, the Yorkshire Dales or the Lakes where the combination of lowland farming and high wilder ground combine to devastating effect.

Goldsworthy, though, is an artist who produces works of art that are designed to be set in the landscape. There’s no pretension of enhancing nature here. Emily’s article is based around the Striding Arches installation in the Scottish Borders; I’ve not seen it but I really would like to. I have thought seen other examples of Goldsworthy’s work and have always been fascinated. You can look and study his work for ages; it is the perfect catalyst for contemplation and reflection. For Goldsworthy the landscape and what happens to it is essential to the work. The work is one thing, but its relationship to its surrounding landscape is just as important as is the way the artwork relates the the people that walk through the landscape. This may seem all arty farty but visit a Goldsworthy installation and you can see the point immediately.

Goldsworth has I believe recently donated his ‘archive’ to the new University of Cumbria and I think it is to be housed in a new building in Carlisle. One day I will visit the archive for I’m sure it will be fascinating to see how Goldsworthy plans his work and thinks through his projects.

There is more art designed for landscape than you might think. On this year’s TGO Challenge I spent a night in the field of a retired forester Alec Sutherland who surrounds his house with works of art. There was a figure with a vacumn cleaner, hoovering up a field, a knight on a makeshift steed and much more besides, all pieces made out of waste materials. It was fantastic stumbling across this stuff and in many ways this was the highlight of my walk this year. Thanks to fellow leftie and cultural junkie Humphrey for the tip off. Sutherland’s work was in the true tradition of the gifted and committed amateur. It would be nice if somebody collected a directory of this kind of work but then again perhaps it is just more effective when you stumble across it. To discover the unexpected is more thrilling and more exciting.

I suppose this king of article is not to everyone’s taste but I personally hope that Emily continues to broaden the scope of TGO in this kind of direction, at least from time to time.

It is worth buying the current issue for the Goldsworthy piece. Other stuff is not so successful, indeed Jim Perrin’s rant where he compares Environmentalists to the Third Reich I found to be utterly disgraceful. Thankfully, elsewhere in the same issue, Roger Smith deals with environmental issues and renewable energy with a lot more restraint and sensibility.