Andy Goldsworthy

I have mentioned a time or two that my favorite artists do not use paint or canvas. They use stone, steel, and wood. Whether a building's facade or an outdoor scultpure, I prefer my art outside. I feel more integrated with the art if I can admire it while strolling around outdoors. It seems more playful.

One such artist who continually surprises me is Andy Goldsworthy. The simplicity of his work always wows me.

He plucks natural elements from their places and reconfigures them into something beautifully odd. Whether we like it or not, his installations are intended to fall down, break apart, or be washed away, the constituent parts bucking his arrangement and returning to a natural order. Due to each work’s impermanence, photography plays a vital role—capturing the art before it returns to its natural form. His works' impermanence lends it a special aura.

Since his work is meant to disappear I have never seen a work in the wild. Thankfully, The Austin Public Library owns several photography books conveying the works of Andy Goldsworthy. Each one of these books has spent at least one tour of duty on my coffee table.

Enclosure

Passage

Hand to Earth

Wall

Time

Wood

Stone

I had never heard of Andy Goldsworthy until I watched Rivers and Tides with a friend. I remember being floored, then scampering to the library for all the books mentioned above.