Most people are familar with Andy Goldsworthy's artworks via his photographs of his land art. Very few have seen his art in exhibitions - and yet there is an exhibition of his artwork on right now - and it is unique!
Never seen before and never to be seen again, this exhibition is set to cement Goldsworthy’s position as one of the leading artists of our time.
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| Oak Passage by Andy Goldsworthy |
What is unique about it is that it is the largest ever indoor exhibition by Andy Goldsworthy
Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years has been conceived by the artist as a single immersive artwork in response to the space, materials and character of the RSA building. Occupying all of the upper rooms and most of the lower floor, the exhibition is at once beautiful and ambitious in scale. The interrelationship of humans and the working land is a recurrent theme in Goldsworthy’s art and in the exhibition. He often presents the land as a hard, hostile and brutal place. Fences and barriers feature prominently, in the form of rusted barbed wire stretched across a room, and a massive, cracked clay wall. As in nature, beauty and danger co-exist.Or you can view this 7 minute video of Andy Goldsworthy talking about the work in the exhibition - which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
The show is a combination of
- 200 works in total
- stunning installations made in situ in response to the iconic Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) building,
- drawings, photographs, films, sketchbooks and archival items dating back to the mid-1970s.
All of the artworks installations have been constructed in the space. I found the section on how they created Red Clay Wall absolutely fascinating. There are few men who can envision artworks so big and yet be so meticulous about how they are made!
It's very appropriate that this major "restrospective" should be an exhibition in Scotland as Andy Goldsworthy, although born in Cheshire and worked in Yorkshire, has been living in Dumfries and Galloway (south west Scotland) for the last 40 years.
South west Scotland, he says, was affordable and welcoming. "I liked the right to roam, the openness of the farmers, and the ability to enjoy the land."
He spent weeks transporting all the portable art from there to Edinburgh for the exhibition
