Cover ‘Spiral Jetty’ in the Summer with views of the Great Salt Lake (Photo: Getty Images)
‘Spiral Jetty’ in the Summer with views of the Great Salt Lake (Photo: Getty Images)
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Our art series demystifies the artworks we love—or love to hate. This month, we tackle a pioneering piece that became emblematic of land art
A giant spiral emerges from the northeastern shores of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, appearing to be a serendipitously and perfectly formed natural phenomenon—or a mysterious, prehistoric art work, akin to Stonehenge. While the formation is evocative of both natural and primordial sensibilities, it is in fact the pioneering land artist Robert Smithson’s 1970 piece Spiral Jetty.
Stationed on the Rozel Point peninsula, Smithson’s large-scale “earthwork” consists of a 1,500-ft long, 15-ft wide coil, made from over 6,000 tons of black basalt rocks and earth, which came from the site; it starts from the shore and furls into the lake. Striking, to say the least, the work became emblematic of the movement known as land art, or earth art, which played a significant role in defining contemporary art in the late Sixties and through the Seventies.
The movement was conceived in the late Sixties in the US, during a time when artists in the western world were tired of both the physical and commercial constraints of the art world; they wanted to expand and take their art outside the gallery walls and use alternative modes of artistic productions that included using natural materials from the site of the work. In order to create such works, they needed space—and thus went westwards. Defined by site-specificity and monumentality, the movement was also inspired by conceptual art and minimalism of the Sixties.
The art was typically minimal in form—but often maximal in scale and impact. It was centred around providing a pure experience of art, stripped down to basics: simple geometric forms and sometimes with natural elements. It was with this movement that the viewers’ relationship to the artwork and space became significant. Famed sculptor Carl Andre once said, “A sculpture is a cut into space”—which explained the approach minimalist sculptors had to shaping their large scale works.
Smithson, who had his first exhibition in 1959, was a young artist and active during the time minimalist art grew to prominence. Him and many of his contemporaries, including Walter de Maria, Richard Long, Michael Heizer, and Smithon’s wife and partner in work Nancy Holt, went on to become well-known land artists and sculptors. Land art took minimalism and bought it down to earth—literally—and became about expanding awareness on geological change, as opposed to environmental activism.
Above 7th November 1969: American sculptor and artist Robert Smithson (1938-1973) (Photo: Getty Images)
7th November 1969: American sculptor and artist Robert Smithson (1938-1973) (Photo: Getty Images)
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A seminal exhibition entitled Earthworks (its title is taken from Brian W Aldiss’s 1965 dystopian sci-fi novel, set in a world rife with environmental catastrophe and socio-economic inequality) took place at Virginia Dwan Gallery in New York in 1968; it included the works of many prominent land artists. It was staged out of ecological concerns as much as it was out of a desire to redefine the context in which art could be exhibited—outside of a white cube gallery space. Dwan was Smithson’s gallerist and funded the production of the Spiral Jetty.
The Great Salt Lake, as a site, inspired Smithson to create the Spiral Jetty. In addition to the remote location—it is a two-hour drive from Salt Lake City—it was the lake’s red-hued waters that fascinated him. The lake is an extremely harsh environment; the water in it is four times as salty as sea water, and therefore is largely devoid of life. It does however contain forms of algae, bacteria and a species of brine shrimp. The shrimp sheds a red shell that the algae and bacteria then consume, resulting in the lake’s signature red hue. For Smithson, this evoked the idea of the primordial seas—and the entropic quality of nature.
Smithson’s and other land artists’ works weren’t always popular with everyone. Some environmentalists criticised the artist for “tampering” with nature. However, impermanence, and most importantly entropy form the conceptual core of Spiral Jetty, and is directly reflected in how the works changes overtime. Change and decay are essential to the work, it exists with and within nature. A year after it was created, The Spiral Jetty was submerged underwater, it became visible momentarily in the 1980s, but only emerged in 2002, completely white, covered with salt.
Above Pink salt water at northern part of Great Salt Lake,Utah (Photo: Getty Images)
Pink salt water at northern part of Great Salt Lake,Utah (Photo: Getty Images)
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The artist’s other notable works, all of which placed the idea of entropy at their core, were made in a similar vein. These include Asphalt Rundown (1969), for which the artist poured hot asphalt down a steep cliff in Rome; and Amarillo Ramp (1973), which was originally constructed to emerge from the base of an artificial lake—the appearance of the work has now changed due to erosion, and the artist tragically passed away in a plane crash before completing it. His works helped shaped land art as a genre and after his death, his vision continued to influence next generations of land artists, including the likes of Andy Goldsworthy, who is perhaps one of the best-known earth art movement artist alive today.
Smithson’s legacy, much like his works, including Spiral Jetty, have endured, literally evolving in form with the tides, climate crises, and changing world, but nonetheless they remain imprinted on both art and earth’s history—and that’s why it’s art.
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Aaina was the Arts and Culture Editor of Tatler Asia. A passion for history and all things visual led her in the pursuit of art history. With extensive experience in the art world working for a range of art institutions, she combined her passion and expertise in the form of art and culture journalism. Prior to Tatler, Aaina worked as a culture reporter for South China Morning Post and editor at the online art platform Cobo Social. Additionally, she has contributed to a variety of prestigious art publications including Art Review, The Art Newspaper, Ocula, Art Agenda, Artsy, Design Anthology, and Artomity. Follow her on Instagram.
