NEW ART FORMS

(Environmental Art)(Empaquetage)

NEW ART FORMS

Throughout history, artist have sought to find new forms of self-expression. At present, that quest continues. During the first half of the twentieth century, artist responded to rapid changes in technology, world politics, and culture by creating a variety of approaches to artistic expression.

Environmental ArtThe term environmental art,

in general, refers to avant-garde works that are consciously designed to surround or include the viewer as participant, thereby fostering a direct emotional and sensory experience. The term relates specifically to those works created since the late 50s which attempt to cloud the distinctions between art and life.

In the mid-1960s various artists found new and unusual ways to counteract the growing commercialization of the art world - what better way than to take the art (more or less) out of the gallery altogether. Most Environmental artists built their works in the great outdoors, and many even aligned themselves with the then-fledgling environmental movement. Their work incorporates spiritual and natural elements and is flavored by potent anti-urban attitudes.

The methods and styles of Environmental artists are actually quite wide-ranging. There is some debate about pieces like Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty,” a 1,500-foot rock-and-salt jetty built in the Great salt Lake, which functions in certain ways more as an assault on the Earth than a project in favor of it. Other important pieces include Christo’s “Running Fence,” 24 miles of nylon fabric fence that ran through California.  

Robert Smithson

This work costs $3.2 million and stood for two weeks. Walter DeMaria’s “Lightning Field” draws down an awesome display of nature’s power: it consisted of 400 lightning rods laid out in a grid in New Mexico. Richard Long documented his walks through the English countryside, photographing sensitive little arrangements and marks he made with sticks, flowers, dirt, or whatever else he found.

Richard Long

Empaquetage

Christo Javacheff

Christo Javacheff, called Christo, is a Bulgarian artist-engineer. He began his career in Paris in 1958 by wrapping small objects, such as bottles, cans, and furniture in plastic, a technique he calls Empaquetage. He has since expanded his empaquetages to buildings and landscapes. By elaborately concealing the natural shape and function of an object or site, Christo transform the familiar into the ambiguous. His larger works involving interior and exterior spaces necessitate the use of construction materials.

They usually exist for only a few days or weeks, causing some to classify Christo’s work as “events” or “spectacles”. Because of the projects’ temporary nature, drawings, maps, photographs, and films are the only lasting records. In 1969, Christo produced his first monumental outdoor piece by wrapping 1.6 km (1mi) of Australia’s coastline in 90,000 m2 (1 million ft2) of polypropylenesheeting. These packages led to a series of curtain-fence works, initiated in 1972 by Valley Curtain, a 22,500 m2(250,000 ft2) drape stretched 37,500 cm (1,250 ft) across a mountain valley at Riple, Colorado.

In 1976, Christo expanded the scale in Running Fence to a 5.5- m (6-yd) curtain spanning 38.4 km (24mi) across Sonoma and Marin counties, California.The construction involved in realizing these projects becomes an aesthetic component. In 1983, for Surround Islands, he skirted 11 islands in Biscayne Bay, Miami, with sheets of flamingo pink plastic. The installation remained intact for two weeks. 

 Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia

Land Art

 

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