Overview
In January 2003 British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy was invited to create a work of art for the National Gallery of Art. The project began with a series of ephemeral works on Government Island in Stafford County, Virginia. From this phase a series of photographic suites and a diary remain. The second phase of the project resulted in Roof, a permanent, site-specific sculpture at the National Gallery comprising nine stacked-slate domes installed over the course of nine weeks by Goldsworthy,his assistant, and a group of British drystone wallers in the winter of 2004-2005.
This volume traces the development of Goldsworthy's project at the National Gallery from conception to completion and situates the artist's sculpture and practice within an age-long tradition of structures.
It features the only fully illustrated catalogue documenting Goldsworthy's permanent installations-more than 120 works dating from 1984 to 2008 and spanning three continents.
Synopsis
The first significant scholarly volume devoted to Goldsworthy's work in nearly twenty years and the first to underscore the permanent output of this acclaimed artist.
Library Journal
The serpentine stacked walls, cones, domes, cairns, arches, twisted wood, and ice sculptures of British land artist Goldsworthy (b. 1956) are well known through popular books such as Andy Goldsworthy: A Collaboration with Nature, Hand to Earth, and the 2004 film Rivers and Tides. In 2003, Goldsworthy created ephemeral works on Government Island, VA, soon followed by the Roof installation—nine stacked-slate domes—at the National Gallery of Art, where Donovan is associate curator of modern and contemporary art. This compilation of photos, diary entries, poetry, and critical essays documents those projects and assesses related aspects of Goldsworthy's ideas about creation, spirituality, transience, and the environment. A rigorously researched chronological catalog of 123 permanent commissions from 1984 to 2008 by Fiske (art history, Univ. of Glasgow) forms about two-thirds of this attractive, large-format resource. The information encompasses the history of each commission, location, size, materials, construction techniques and process, conceptual underpinnings, artist's quotes, present condition, and other details. The photography is uniformly outstanding, a hallmark of Goldsworthy literature, and the catalog portion updates William Malpas's The Art of Andy Goldsworthy: Complete Works and documents lesser-known projects on private properties. VERDICT Goldsworthy's appealing artworks are accessible on many levels, as are the substantial essays, criticism, and photographs offered here. A worthy purchase for all libraries with contemporary art collections.—Russell T. Clement, Northwestern Univ. Lib., Evanston, IL