https://youtu.be/_Kzued1M0lg
In response to the week “Stillness,” I created a land art sculpture, which is situated in a natural setting.
When I was thinking about the meaning of stillness, how I can feel it and how I can convey total tranquility and interconnection with nature, I realized that for me it’s a moment of dying and being buried in the ground. Nothing is connected with the feeling of absolute calmness as cemeteries. Stillness appears when there are no worries and we become parts of the land, flowers, and grass growing through us.
So as a response to this concept I sculptured the portrait of the character, who looks relieved and comfortable. I surrounded him with the plants, installed some plants inside the sculpture, and located it on the ground. I documented it using photographs and filming the spot.
Method
I documented not only the finished work but also the process of making a sculpture. The portrait was made with clay. I didn’t have a goal to make a realistic mask, that’s why it looks stylized and partly flat.
Then, I collected suitable plants, and some tiny sprigs (I don’t know the name of the plant) I located them directly on the face and imprinted into the clay. Other plants I “planted” into the face, by making holes and putting roots inside.
Filming of the finished work was very important because it should present perfectly the concept and how the work integrates with nature. So I tried to film beautifully moving blades of grass in the wind and tried to find a perfect angle to pair with the character.
Concept
My response is connected with “Land art”. “Land art” is a novel type of visual art, the aim is to create artistic imagery using earth, rocks, soil, and other natural material, to increase our sensibility towards our environment. Earth art also referred to as Land art or Earthworks, uses the natural landscape to create site-specific structures, art forms, and sculptures.
“What began as a trend in sculpture to incorporate natural materials like dirt, rocks, and plants quickly grew into a process-based approach to art-making in which the artist would make excursions into the surrounding environment to either collect objects or perform site-specific interventions. Some artists used mechanical earth-moving equipment to make their earthworks, while others made minimal and temporary interventions in the landscape.
Artists typically documented their earthworks using photographs, films, and maps for exhibition in galleries. Land artists also made Land art in the gallery by incorporating natural materials from the landscape into sculptures and installations.” (An Article by the UTAH museum of fine arts)
Reflection
I found an amazing quote, which is fully connected with my feelings about both responses “Nature” and “Stillness”: “We often forget that WE ARE NATURE. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we’ve lost our connection to ourselves.” – Andy Goldsworthy (sculptor and land artist). That what was I was thinking about when I was doing my sculptures, the main thought was - “we are nature”, and truly nothing can return us to ourselves more than a connection with nature. That’s why those responses were like a dialogue, a play with nature, that brought peace and tranquility, brought back a feeling of living.