A Man in Touch with Nature– British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy

"Roof" (2005) by Andy Goldsworthy; photo by Lee Ewing, courtesy of National Gallery of Art

Perhaps one of the most unique Sculptors of our time is Andy Goldsworthy.  Most people in our country have seen one or more of his sculptures,  or at least in the thinking of comics commentator Scott McCloud, a digitally reproduced image of a photograph of one of his sculptures.  

Goldsworthy is one of the purest e

xamples of an artist who draws his ideas from the world around him rather from within.  His eyes are always open and looking for new subjects with which to apply his hands to.  His method is a multi part process beginning with long walks in nature and observation of the natural world. He considers whatever he finds to be potential canvas, media, backdrop or even a tool with which to construct his natural sculptures. 

A freshly blanketed field of snow might become the setting for a mammoth pattern of snakelike trenches which when viewed from a distance take on a mesmerizing pattern.  Scattered willow branches might become an interwoven basket-like creation that suggests a nest for some mythical dinosaur-sized 

      bird.  A long black thorn might become a piercing or scratching tool for making patterns on  palm leaves.

He sees shapes, colors and potential in the smallest of items collecting them and rearranging them so that they form beautiful patterns which stand in 

contrast the natural patterns around them.   The effect is that the sculptures seem to have magically created themselves. 

Goldsworthy can spend hours and even days on a sculpture and if he feels it isn't quite right he will take it apart and re-do everything.

Most of his sculptures(but not all) are temporary, often created in places where

 the where the surrounding elements themselves will soon reclaim them.  They are recorded and brought to the world in photographs.  Goldsworthy himself is often the photographer, waiting hours for just the right time of day to get the best light with which to bathe his creations.

A documentary of Andy Goldsworthy's works entitled “Rivers and Tides”(2003) is vailable at video stores and on Netflix(also available on Netflix for instant viewing)

* Photo - "Pebble Circle" by Andy Goldsworthy